Prove You Wrong
by DeceptiveDani
Summary: Carol wants Daryl to live up to what she knows he is capable of, but he's never had anyone believe in him. He just doesn't want to let her down again, in any way. Too bad he doesn't already know there's no way he could.
1. Miscommunication

**Now this is my first fan fiction ever. I can't tell you how many Daryl/Carol stories I've read on here, but it's enough to be labeled obsessed. I've had my own idea for one for the longest time, and I felt like I should take a chance on writing. I have to thank LexiieWuncler, for being my Beta. Well I don't have to, but I really want to. She made me feel reassured about publishing this. So thanks again! **

**So now I hope you enjoy. If you do, please let me know, because it's your words that will make me go on with the story. :) **

**Chapter 1**

His words kept circling in her head.

"_What do you want?"_

"_A man of honor."_

"_Rick has honor."_

She hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but it did, and it made her feel terrible. She had basically spit on Daryl, insisting he had no honor, even after all he had done. Done for her. She sighed, shaking her head, trying to erase the thoughts. She looked behind her, at Daryl, who was up on a rock, taking the first round of watch. She knew he was avoiding her gaze, his fixated on the fire. She sighed and turned back and looked around at the group, noticing the detachment, the missed feeling of family, that this group had only a few days ago. Even though they were all huddled around the now dying fire, there was a sense of separation in the air. She too, felt the same way. Rick was a man the group was supposed to look up to. He had kept the secret of everyone being infected from them, as well as killing Shane, but everyone knew Shane was becoming a bigger issue than they could afford right now, and it was a matter of time, but there had to be another way than killing him. She shook her head again, trying to escape all these bad thoughts. But she couldn't help but thinking of Lori in the midst of all of this. She saw how Lori had spaced her and Carl away from Rick. She knew that Lori had loved Shane, and there was the possibility that she was pregnant with his child. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shoes shuffling. Everyone was moving off into separate areas around the fire, but trying to stay close to the source of warmth. Everyone was tired, including Carol, but her thoughts just kept smashing into the front of her head. She sighed and also laid down near the fire. Her back towards everyone else, her eyes fixed on Daryl. She knew he knew she was looking at him, and he finally looked her in the eyes. She smiled apologetically, again, and he just gave a small nod in response. She was upset, knowing that he was still angry, and she turned and stared into fire that was now ember, contemplating whether or not she should get up and apologize. She decided against it, knowing he'd rather be alone. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and held herself. She closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Daryl looked out towards the woods, wishing he could go out hunting right now, even in the dark. He felt like he needed to escape everything right now. The drama of the group, this fucked up world, his thoughts. Well thought. Daryl couldn't understand why it bugged him this much, but he wasn't this pissed off since Carol had come to his part of the camp after Sophia's funeral. Even though Carol told him to "_Go ahead_" then, he still was angry, with her, and with himself. Now, he was just angry with her.

"_A man of honor." _ She had said.

He knew he was no man of honor, but damn! Did she have to throw it in his face? He laughed at himself. Why did he care what that damn woman thought?

"_Aww. Baby Darylina showin his feelings again. Why you even with them still? They don't care about ya ass. Only me baby brother." _Merle's laughed echoed in his ears. Daryl couldn't help but laugh at himself. He couldn't answer the unasked question. Not out loud at least. Daryl's head shot up when he heard something. He looked around, when he noticed it was Carol. She was huddled near the fire, holding herself. She had turned towards him, and he squinted, and seen that Carol was still asleep, but she was shivering. He sighed and got up, leaving his bow on the rock. He walked towards Carol, shrugging off his jacket. He lightly draped the jacket over Carol's torso. He stood over her longer than he should. He noticed a small smile forming on Carol's face. He froze up for a minute, before realizing that she was still asleep. He turned back towards his post, a small smile curving on his face, walking back.

**Again, thanks for reading. I hoped you enjoyed this, and if you did then please let me know. Thanks again. :)**


	2. Starting The Fire

**Thank you all for the kind words. I seriously doubt myself sometimes when it comes to my writing, but hearing good words make me feel better. Even bad words, because 1. I know someone read it, and then 2. It helps me become an even greater writer. Thanks again to LexiieWuncler for being my beta! **

**I had realized that I didn't do a disclaimer in chapter 1, which I kept telling myself I should, and then forgot! Here it is though: I own nothing from The Walking Dead. I just borrow from the story lines, and promise they are handled with care. Though, if I owned Daryl Dixon, I'd make sure there was "Arm Porn" in every scene that he was in. And if I owned Norman Reedus…Well if I say anything on that, it might end me up in some therapy or more likely jail. ;)**

T-Dog relieved Daryl from watch around 4 that morning. Even with no signs of trouble, Daryl was exhausted. The past few days filled with nothing but drama. Daryl, now being Rick's right-hand man, he had to help with the drama. Between Randall, Shane, and the herd attacking the barn, Daryl was exhausted. He would never admit it, he was grateful for the desperately need break.

Daryl collected his bow from his position, just in case, and made his way towards the rest of the sleeping group. He quickly examined the small, crowded area, and noticed the only places were by Beth and Herschel, and Carol. He knew better than to lay anywhere near the old man's daughter. He sighed, and walked towards Carol's area. He laid his bow against one of logs, and he plopped down onto the cold hard ground with a huff. He heard a mumble coming from his right, and was afraid he woke her up. He cautiously turned in her direction, and sighed when she was still asleep. He laid as far away from her as he could, with his back to her, but he could still her warm, soft, breathing on the back of his neck. A slight moan escaped his mouth, and he tightly shut his eyes, faking sleep, just in case the slight noise woke her. He quickly fell asleep, with yet another small smile on his face.

* * *

Carol woke up, the sun hitting her eyes like a smack in the face. She tried to turn away from the sun, but something held her in her place. She squinted, and realized it was an arm. Daryl's arm. He was dead asleep, but a smirk graced his lips. She smiled at the thought of him, lying with her. His arm was secured around her torso, as though he was trying to shield her from something.

"Daryl. Daryl." She whispered, lightly shoving at his shoulder trying to wake him, without waking anyone else. He grunted, but turned around, taking his arm with him. She smiled, leaving him to sleep. She started to stand, when she felt someone slide off her body. She looked down and noticed Daryl's jacket, now pooled at her feet. She smiled again and reached for his jacket, lightly draping it over his shoulders. She turned to walk towards their supplies, when she noticed Lori smiling from across the camp. Carol felt her cheeks start to burn, and hurried to the supplies. She grabbed what she could salvage for breakfast, and headed to where Lori was sitting, looking down at Carl, love and worry filling her eyes. Carol felt a pang in her chest. It made her think of Sophia. The same look she had in her eyes every day when she was missing. She shook the thought away, and sat next to Lori, noticing Rick was now up, and looking in Lori's direction, but she ignored his stares. Carol started sorting the supplies when Lori's words killed her concentration.

"You guys looked cozy over there" Lori nodded in Daryl's direction.

Carol's face flamed, and she hoped Lori would blame it on the bright morning sun. "Uh. I guess. I woke up like that." was all Carol could say, not exactly knowing how else to explain it, and was glad that Lori had let the subject go. Carol and Lori started prepping breakfast. While Lori was skinning one of their last squirrels, Carol tried to get a fire started, but all she kept producing was smoke. She sighed and was about to get up, when a pair of hands pulled the sticks out of her hands. She looked up with grimace, when she noticed the pair of blue eyes smirking at her. A smile replaced itself on her face, when she realized who it was.

"You need to rub them this way" he said, taking her hands into his, and started rubbing the sticks against each other in a swift, fluid motion, that almost immediately started sparking. After a few seconds, the fire caught and held. Carol smiled and looked up at Daryl's face, who was already looking down at her, his smirk making her cheeks once again start burning. She turned her attention to the fire so fast, and Daryl almost instinctively dropped his hands from hers.

"S'rry." He mumbled, got up and walked away. She immediately missed the feel of his rough hands against hers. She got back up, and went to take the now prepared squirrel from Lori's hands, and placed it overtop the fire. She let herself a look at Daryl, who was now talking with Rick, probably trying to figure out what to do next. She turned, and tried to concentrate on not letting the squirrel burn, but was failing miserably.

"Hey Carol, you alright?" the voice came up behind her. Carol turned around and noticed Beth standing beside her, looking down at her hands.

"Oh hi Beth. Yeah I'm alright, but would you mind watching the food while I go and use the restroom?" Carol asked the young girl, whose faced lit up at the offer.

"Sure. Take your time. If you want, I'll finish up" Beth offered with a hopeful grin.

"That'd be nice. Thank you." Carol replied with a sincere smile. Beth took her position and Carol headed off to the woods that were deemed clear for "personal duties". Carol walked a few steps in, and made sure she was shielded from any view from the camp. She pulled her jeans and underwear down in one motion, and squatted down, reminiscing about the days of the cold porcelain and soft tissue. Such little things you take for granted, yet miss them if they don't exist. She giggled at her own thoughts, and used the generic tissue Glenn had picked up on his last run into town, before pulling her pants up, and headed back to the group. Making her way out of the woods, she bumped into Daryl, standing against one of the trees.

"Oh sorry." She mumbled. "What are you doing there?" she asked, questioning the smirk on his face.

"Seen ya head into the woods. Thought I'd stand ere' just in case." He answered, the smirk still there.

Anger was filling her eyes and she asked "Well then, what's so funny?" and she could hear the mean in her words.

"I'd ask you the same thing." He replied. "Cause pissin' must be hilarious to you" he snorted, and she realized he had heard her giggling in there. She huffed and started back towards the others when he grabbed her elbow and turned her back to him.

"S'rry." He mumbled again. "Didn't mean to upset ya." He said looking at the ground. She sighed, all signs of anger washing away with it.

"I'm not mad." She confessed, not sure if it was for him or herself. He looked up at her, a slight grinned played on his face.

"Good." He said "Then can I ask what the hell you were laughin' at in there?" he gestured towards the woods.

She giggled again and confessed. "I was just thinkin' about when indoor plumbing and decent toilet paper weren't luxuries." She said, holding up the tissue paper in her hand. Daryl started walking back to the group, Carol following beside him.

"Yea. I remember when takin' a shit didn't involve sandpaper or some shit." He commented, earning a laugh from Carol.

"Not sure there's a difference between the two" again gesturing to the tissue and that earned a chuckle from Daryl. She looked up, his eyes were crinkled, and that small grin was still there. They stood there for a few seconds, just staring at each other, and Carol wondered what he was thinking about right now. Daryl cleared his throat, ending the moment, and walked away silently in Rick's direction. Carol finally shuffled her feet to where Lori and Beth were putting the final touches onto breakfast. Carol took a few of the plates that were finished and started passing them out to people, handing the first one to Carl, who face beamed at the food. She smiled and made her way around, until she had two plates left. She looked around for Daryl to hand him one, and noticed he was missing. T-Dog noticed her searching and had told her that he had gone out to hunt. Upset that he had left before eating, she sat down and ate her own food. She wasn't very hungry, but savored every bite, not knowing the next time they'd have food.

Everyone had pretty much finished up, and Lori was going around collecting the plates, when Rick cleared his throat. Everyone turned their direction his way and Rick fidgeted in his spot, but started to speak.

"We're gonna head out in a few hours" he announced, trying to be firm with his words. Everyone started murmuring "where", "Is there anywhere anymore" and similar words.

"There's a prison about a 100 miles north of here" he interjected. Everyone looked at him with both curiosity and insanity, while he continued. "We can't stay here forever, and it's getting colder every day. We can't just stay out in the open, and the prison probably has security and it's the best we might get right now" sounding unsure of himself. Everyone started talking amongst themselves, wondering if the prison could actually be a home. Carol wondered herself, could they call a place home? She didn't care that the place was a prison; all she wanted was a stable place that they all could live, and be a family. Her thoughts started to wander, when Lori spoke up.

"What about Andrea?" she asked, worry behind every word. Everyone had gotten silent, and looked at Rick for an answer. Rick placed his face into his hands. It took him a minute to gather his thoughts. Everyone sat in silence, and he finally looked up at the group.

"We can't go back. We can't risk the group for one person, even if it is …" his words were interrupted by Carol.

"NO!" she yelled. "We can't just leave her behind! She's a person just like the rest of us!" her hands were shaking as she looked up at Rick, who was pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look. I understand" and his words were again interrupted by her.

"No. You don't understand! She risked her life to save mine! If you won't go back for her, I'll go myself." She yelled, headed towards one of the vehicles, when T-Dog grabbed her to stop her.

"Look man. I know what ya said last night, but Carol's right dude. We can't just leave her out there dead or alive" he offered, smiling at Carol. She looked at Rick with a pleading look. He sighed and rubbed his face.

"Alright. We'll go and try to see if we can find her. But only for a couple hours, then we got to leave." Rick offered. Carol nodded in agreement.

"Since Daryl's out hunting we have to take a few men, and try to cover more ground. Glenn and T-Dog do ya mind comin' with me" Ricked asked. T-Dog nodded a yes, and Glenn looked at Maggie who shook her head in agreement, giving Rick his answer.

"Alright. Let's pack up what weapons we can, and move out." T-Dog and Glenn nodded and headed to see what they could scavenge for the trip. Rick walked towards Lori, who was turned away. Rick wrapped his arms around her waist, and Lori flinched at first, but settled into his arms. He whispered something into her ear, and she nodded with a saddened smile. He let her go and hugged Carl hard. Carol turned away, wiping at her eyes. She noticed Glenn talking with Maggie, a small smile on his face trying to cheer up the poor girl. T-Dog announced they were ready, and the girl hugged Glenn as hard as she could, planting a kiss on his lips in the process. Carol turned away, feeling like she was invading on their privacy. She walked towards T-Dog and hugged him, whispering a "thanks" in his ear. He separated himself from her with a smile and climbed into the cab of the truck they were taking. Rick got into the driver's side and Glenn in the bed. They drove off, Glenn waving at Maggie who was now standing beside Carol.

"They're gonna be okay. They have to be." She said out loud, trying to reassure herself. Carol patted the girl on the back, trying to comfort the girl.

"They will be. They've been through worse." Carol said, smiling at the girl, trying to believe her own words. "_What happens if they aren't though?" _ her mind asked the question she couldn't answer.

**I thought I'd make this one longer since I got good words for the first chapter. I also didn't want to end this chapter! I seriously must thank LexiieWuncler again. There was something in here that would just make the future of this story a bit…Dirty? But I also thank you guys again for such wonderful words. They make my day when I read them. I am working on chapter 3, but not entirely sure when I'll be done. I know I'll have it up by this time next week, hopefully sooner though. Leave me words. Good or nice :)**


	3. Take A Tumble

**Okay. I really wanted to put this out, but I had a mishap. I lost my flash drive at school, and since nobody turned it in, I spent my weekend rewriting this. So there are a few changes. I really liked my first version, but I think this one is just as good now. Thanks again to LexiieWuncler for being my beta. She is just lovely, and she didn't laugh at my terrible southern vernacular. :)**

Daryl stood at the edge of the opening. Away from everyone's view. He watched as Carol walked up to T-Dog, and hugged him. Anger brewed from him as he watched the man wrap his arms around her tiny body. He felt like he was about to explode, but he just walked back into the woods, to go hunt for a little while longer. He knew he had no right to be angry at either of them. Carol wasn't his, but he didn't care as he slammed his fist into a nearby tree. The impact was rough, and he felt blood running down his knuckles from the impact. "Is Darylina mad that the mousy old bitch is finding a new MAN" he could feel his brother's laughing voice pronouncing every letter of the word. Daryl's mind couldn't help but go back to her words from the night before.

"A man of honor." Echoed in his ears. He shook his head, trying to erase the words from his brain, but just ended up making himself dizzy in the process. He leaned up against a tree, smearing the blood on his hands over the rough bark. Why the hell should he care what Carol and T-Dog are. Hell. That man probably had more honor that Daryl ever would. Even with the thought of that, he felt a tightening in his chest. "Darylina has a crush on the old hag? Just cause the world gone to shit, don't mean ya gotta settle on the wrinkled ass!" Merle's laughter boomed in his head. Daryl kept shaking his head, trying to deny the words. He slid to the ground, and put his head between his legs, to try and stop the spinning. Merle's laughter boomed in his head. Daryl kept shaking his head, trying to deny the words. Daryl tried to walk back and stumbled against a rock, falling face first into the ground.

* * *

It was about an hour since Rick and the others left, and the others thought they'd go through their supplies and see what they needed. Carol had already gone through their food supplies, which were very low, and Carol thought she'd go to the woods to add to Daryl's hunting supplies. She grabbed a basket, and told Lori she was going to try and find some berries or something. Lori nodded, keeping her focus on Carl, who was digging in their car. Only in the woods for a few and she found a couple good berry bushes, and picked them. She walked further into the woods when she heard a thud. Carol instinctively looked around, finding the biggest stick she could, and trudged towards the noise, cautiously looking around her to make sure there were no surprises coming up behind her. She walked a few more feet, when she saw Daryl, lying on the ground, his face against the dirt. She rushed to his unmoving body, dropping the stick and basket in the movement.

"Oh Daryl. Daryl." she cried, turning his body over. There was drying streaks of blood on his forehead, but no marks underneath the blood. Apparently her cries were loud enough to attract the others back at camp, because within a few minutes, Herschel and Carol were carrying Daryl to Lori's backseat, with everyone crowding around to see what had happened. Carol had stepped away so Herschel could examine Daryl's head. Herschel stepped back when Daryl started to stir. He looked up, an alarming look mixed with confusion. He tried to sit up, but Herschel eased him back down.

"Easy son. You took a nice fall. Gonna have a bad bruise on that forehead, and I'm going to have to stitch up that cut on your hand" Herschel backed up to grab his medical bag, and everyone went back to what they were doing, Carol still lingering.

"Are you okay?" she questioned, hearing Daryl wince sitting up.

"Ain't nothin'" he said holding his head in pain. She walked around the car, and sat on the other side of the back seat, watching as he turned around. Herschel came back, and started pulling out sewing supplies. Herschel poured some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball and wiped it over the gash. Daryl's eyes winced, but he stayed composed.

"Now here comes the bad part" Herschel stated, pulling thread into the needle.

"Normally I'd numb ya, but we don't have that luxury" he tried to calm Daryl, whose hands were tensing in anticipation of what was coming.

"Whatever ya got to do doc" Daryl grimaced, and Carol smirked in the tone in his voice.

"Is Daryl afraid of needles?" she asked herself, but was interrupted when his other hand grabbed hers and was squeezing tightly. She looked up at his face, his gaze staring out the front windshield. She scooted over and placed her free hand over top his and he looked at her. His eyes showed pain, but his face remained emotionless.

"It's okay Daryl. He's almost done" she whispered, trying to reassure him, but he just stared into her eyes, and she bit her lip nervously. He broke the gaze when Herschel announced he was done. Daryl dropped her hand as soon as he finished.

"I'm going to put some gauze over this so the stitches will stay, but you can't hunt for at least a few days, or you'll rip them open again" Herschel said giving Daryl a stern look. He nodded at the terms, but Carol knew he probably wouldn't listen. Daryl started to get out of the car, but Carol pulled him back.

"Daryl. Can you just wait a minute?" She asked, looking at the seat. He sat there, and after a few seconds he started getting frustrated.

"Well what do ya want?" anger flooded his words, and Carol felt her eyes start to water.

"Aw hell woman! There ain't no need for tears. I'm fine. See?" he held his hand up, and Carol couldn't help but giggle a little, but the tears that were forming started falling.

"You get hurt, and you try to comfort me? You are outstanding Daryl Dixon" her words were light on his ears, but his mind went back to the woods.

"Yeah. Still not as great as Rick…Or T-Dog" the last name tasted like vomit in his mouth. Carol was puzzled by T-Dog's name, her face showing it.

"What about T-Dog" she asked, trying to recall if she said anything about him that night, but coming up with nothing.

"N'thin." He said shaking his head, and getting out of the car. Carol confused, followed his lead and gently shut the car door. She turned to try and continue the conversation but he was headed back into the woods. She noticed everyone looking at her and Daryl, but she ignored the eyes and followed him.

* * *

He knew she had followed him

"Damn woman" he mumbled to himself. He just came to grab his bow and game. Before he could even reach his items, he was being pulled back.

"The hell!" he exclaimed as he yanked his arm away from her, and spun around to look at her, but a shocked look covered her face, and all she could do was point. Daryl turned around and saw her. A tall woman in a dark hoodie that covered her face. She stood there, with 2 chains in her hands that were connected to 2 walkers.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl spat, his hands balling into fists, his right hand stinging from the unnecessary pressure on his wound. The woman unhooded her head, and stepped forward, and the walkers trudged with her.

"My name is Michonne.". Daryl looked the woman up and down, trying to figure out her game. She was a stranger, and he wasn't about to welcome her in with open arms, but he noticed Carol offering out her hand. "Foolish woman" he thought, but the woman just stared at her hand, and after a few seconds Carol let it fall to her side.

"Hi I'm Carol, and this is Daryl." She said, with a smile, but Daryl nudged her in her side. Carol turned to him.

"What was that for?" she questioned. He pulled her over to his side.

"We don't know who the hell she is!" he hissed into her ear, but knew he was too loud.

"She saved my life." A voice rose from behind her. They turned their direction back to the stranger to see a bloody Andrea limping into view.

"Andrea!" Carol exclaimed, rushing over to hug the bloody woman.

"Well Ill be damned! Barbie is alive." Daryl joked in his place. Carol shot him a look but kept her arms around her. Andrea finally had to pull the woman off of her.

"How did you make it off the farm? How are you okay? You saved my life! Im so glad you're okay." All the words kept rushing out of Carol's mouth and she just couldn't help hugging the woman again.

"I just kept trying to go, and figured you guys would head back to the highway, but walkers just kept swarming me. I was just exhausted and one just almost got me, until Michonne came and rescued me." Andrea explained.

"Well I think we need to get back to the group, jus' 'n case Rick and 'em come back." Daryl spoke up. He started after his items when Carol rushed and picked them up. He gave her a questioning look when he held his out and she shook her head.

"You're hurt. Let me carry it please." she gave him a small look, biting her bottom lip. He was angry for even making himself look like a pussy, but he nodded in exhaustion. The 4 made their way back to camp, Daryl and Carol in front. They both made it to the clearing, and noticed the three men had already made it back. Rick was giving the bad news to the group, and nobody turned towards their direction. Andrea had hid behind them long enough to hear Rick's words and spoke up.

"Well I'm glad that you guys at least went back for me. Considering you left me in hell." Everyone looked up stunned at who the words were coming from.

"Andrea?" Lori asked, getting up to see if she was truly there. Andrea laughed but hugged the woman to prove that she was real. Everyone started to burst out with questions, mainly how did she make it this far.

"Well I received some help from her" Andrea gestured over to where Michonne was standing, still in the opening of the woods. In all of the Andrea celebration and questioning, nobody had noticed a strange woman standing there, with two walkers by her side. Rick passively walked towards the woman.

"Well hello. My name is Rick. And you are?" Rick asked offering his hand. Michonne just looked at it, like she did Carol's.

"I am Michonne." She plainly announced. Rick nodded, placing his hand back on his side.

"Well we all thank you for bringing her safely to us," he said, sounding like he was dismissing her, but she stood her ground and nodded.

"Yeah I'd be a walker by now if it wasn't for her." Andrea joked, but everyone else just froze in their place. Rick fidgeted his hands.

"Andrea. I have some news." Rick said looking at the ground. He stayed like that for a minute before continuing.

"Do you remember when we were at the CDC? When Jenner took our blood and ran tests? Well before the building blew up…" Rick had to pause himself. It was uneasy to tell someone they are already dead.

"Well he told me that we're all infected" he finally muttered. He couldn't even look up at her face. Andrea was just stunned for a second, but she took the news fairly well.

"We're all gonna die sometime right?" she tried to lighten the mood with a bit of dark humor. Rick nodded grimly and then announced that they were moving out in half an hour. He walked over to talk to Michonne, probably trying to figure out if she'd join them. It's the least he could do.

Daryl realized that Carol still had his bow, and he went to retrieve it. She was by the women Carol talking intently. He took a few steps towards her, but stayed out of hearing range. It was only a few seconds until Maggie nudged her into his view. She smiled and walked towards him, his bow slung across her back like it was part of her.

"I'm jus' tryin' ta get my bow back" he said holding out his hand. She smirked and took a step back. He gave her a questioning look.

"Wha'?" he finally asked when she didn't say anything. With the smirk still on her face, she stepped forward, getting closer than normal, but still kept her distance. When she finally spoke up, he couldn't believe her words.

"I will give it back on two exceptions. The first: You teach me how to use a bow." She paused for a second, embarrassed about the second one, but she continued.

"The second: Teach me how to drive?" she questioned, keeping her gaze on the ground. Daryl couldn't help but lightly chuckle. He stepped towards her when she wouldn't look back up. He reached around her arm to grab his bow, but placed it lightly on the nape of her neck. He felt her jump under his touch, but he kept it there. She finally looked up, her cheeks a rosy pink. He took the bow off of her shoulder, but kept it their fingers touching.

"I can't believe ya don't know how ta drive, but yeah. I can try ta teach ya." He said taking the bow and slinging it on his back. She looked at him waiting for the other answer. He sighed and looked at her pleadingly.

"I don' un'erstand why ya gotta go runnin' round tryin' ta do ery'thin. Jus' let me think about it?" he questioned, hoping he could squash this issue now. She frowned but nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now go pack ya shit up cause we're heading out in a few." He gestured towards the bike. She smiled, and went to grab her shit. Daryl walked to the bike to put his bow on it securely, trying not to think of the fact that the woman he can't stop thinking about was going to be hugging him for the next few hours, unable to stop the small smile forming on his face.

**I thank you for reading this far. You are all amazingly wonderful. I really didn't expect to bring Michonne into it this fast, but rewriting always changes my stories. I also have to do a new outline for this story since that as well was on my flash drive. If **_**I'm **_**lucky, I might be able to start and finish chapter 4 by Thursday, but that's the TVD season finale so I'm not entirely sure. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! If I could give you all cookies, I would, but this is my last cookie! :P**

**On another side note, my beta LexiieWuncler has a TWD FF on here as well, but it revolves around a DeAndrea relationship, but it's amazing. Just saying! :)**


	4. Unexpected

**This was a little fluff chapter I thought of earlier today. Took me about 10 minutes to write! But I thought this might be a little good making up for all the wrong I've caused! :P I'm gonna start chapter 5 tomorrow, but I thought this might tide you over till Saturday or Sunday. Thanks so much for reading.**

They had been driving for a few hours. Carol had ridden on the back of Daryl's bike, for only her second time. It was a bit uncomfortable, and every time the bike jerked slightly, her arms squeezed tighter around his waist, and she buried her head deeper into the space between his shoulders. Daryl's hands tightened around the handle every time her hands tightened around him, his knuckles turning white in the process.

The sun was beating down on the road, and they still had about 10 miles to go till the prison. Daryl had stopped in front of the leading vehicle, and Rick gave him a questioning look while he pulled up to the driver's window.

"How 'bout you and me go up to the prison with Glenn, and see if it's safe, or if we gonna walk into something'?" Daryl suggested.

Rick pondered it for a few seconds.

"Alright, but we're gonna take T-Dog instead of Glenn. He's more muscle that we might need." Rick said. Daryl nodded with anger boiling up in him. Rick talked to Lori for a few, and then got out to go over the plan with everyone.

Carol sat sideways on the bike, her legs dangling in the air. Daryl stopped to look at her for a second. The sun was bouncing off her skin, making it glow a beautiful golden color. Her growing hair was lightly swaying in the little bursts of wind, the sun making it look a lighter brown than it was. Her eyes were focused down, watching her own feet dangle. She finally looked up when she felt a pair of eyes that wouldn't go away. She looked up and smiled at Daryl, and he noticed a little wetness around her eyes. He walked towards her, and sat beside her, kicking his feet against hers. A small giggle escaped her throat and Daryl smirked, glad to stop the sadness for a second.

"Sophia?" he whispered, and Carol nodded in response not looking up at Daryl.

"I think about her too." he hadn't realized the words were said aloud until Carol was staring directly at him. She had a faint smile on her lips, but he didn't understand why.

"Rick is calling for you." carol pointed behind his back. Daryl turned towards Rick and held up his finger asking for a few minutes. Rick nodded and went to Lori.

Daryl turned his attention back to Carol who was just looking at him, a small gleam in her eye he thought he imagined.

"We're gonna go scope out the prison first to see if it's safe. Don't wanna walk everyone into something we can't control" he said, watching her face sadden.

"What about you? What happens if there's something you can't control?" She looked down.

"What if you don't come back" she whispered. He sighed and stood up. He grabbed his now off the back and bent in front of Carol who was quietly crying. He instinctively went and wiped her tears away from her eyes.

"Hey now. No tears. I'm a Dixon, and a Dixon always come back." he reassured her with a bit of gruff in his voice. She tried to smile but it wasn't here true smile. Daryl noticed Rick out of the corner of his eye, and he stood up.

"I gotta go now, but I'll be back" he said. She looked up at him and nodded. He automatically leaned over and kissed her cheek. He pulled away almost as fast and whispered a "goodbye".

**Thanks so much for reading! I have to thank collective2220 for their wonderful review. It seriously makes my day to make someone a bit happier, and I'm glad I made your lunch a bit better. I love all of you so freaking much. Also like to thank LexiieWuncler for being my beta, though she didn't touch this chapter cause I felt like I just wanted to share so much! :D**


	5. Little Words

**So here is chapter 5. I was really distracted by 1. The beautiful weather and 2. My TVD hangover. Still in shock about the finale, not sure if anybody cares, but I felt like sharing. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. You guys are just so amazing! Thanks again to LexiieWuncler for being my beta once again! Enjoy :)**

The beginning of the ride had been pretty quiet. Inside the truck and outside. Daryl had offered to sit in the bed just in case anything came about, but nothing had really happened. He spent most of the time looking out at the surroundings. They had passed through a small town not 20 minutes after they left. There were some houses, a gas station and a few little stores that looked like they were shut down longer than the epidemic had been. They drove through and Daryl noticed why. A big super store was near the edge of the town, but it was deserted except for a few walkers in the parking lot that Daryl handled quickly and quietly. They thought of looking through the town for anything useful, but thought better of it. They had to get to the prison to make sure it was safe before sundown, and the town could be scavenged another day. About a half an hour past the town, the prison came into view.

It looked like any other prison, except desolate and rundown. Rick parked the truck at the beginning of the path, for a quick escape if needed, and they headed towards the building. They scanned the grounds around it, not seeing anything but trash and scatted dead bodies, torn and chewed at. Rick looked away, a sick look crossing his face, but headed forward. T-Dog, looking away followed him and Daryl behind him. They headed for the closest gate, which was wide open and headed towards the closest building in the gated area. It was all quiet but they tried to peer through the dirty windows to see anything in the building, but found the first floor to seem clear.

"Alright. We gotta do this quietly. We'll scan the first floor and if it's safe we'll go forward. If there's too much trouble, you get out fast and head towards the truck. We'll wait five minutes, but that's it." Rick whispered quietly but T-Dog and Daryl could hear the roughness in his voice, but they nodded in agreement. Rick went to the door and turned the knob.

The door creaked in the abrupt movement, showing no signs of entry in at least 2 months. Rick took a quick scan of the room, and signaled the others that it was safe. T-Dog and Daryl quickly moved into the room, Daryl shutting the door as quietly as possible from the inside, but it slammed in the doorframe. Rick and T-Dog shot him a look of anger, but he shrugged it off. Rick moved further into the hallway, T-Dog followed him, and Daryl stayed back examining the few front rooms. The first one looked like a living room, a couch, couple chairs, books, and a TV that looked older than he was. He walked into a huge kitchen. An old diner-like booth adorned the back wall, but the rest of the kitchen looked brand new. All shiny appliances that look hardly touched. He looked in the cabinets, and most were filled with dishes. The last few he opened, he whooped. There were tons of boxed foods and cans. Rick came into the kitchen frantically.

"What's wrong?" he asked looking around. Daryl chuckled.

"S'rry man. Just searchin' round and I think we hit the jackpot." Daryl said showing him the cabinets. T-Dog came in as Rick went looking through the food.

"Everything alright?" he asked. Daryl nodded not looking at the man.

"Well it looks clean down here. Should we head upstairs?" T-Dog looked at Rick for approval.

"Yeah. You and Daryl go upstairs. I'll stay down here to keep watch" rick said. The two men nodded and headed for the stairs.

"How's it look down 'ere?" Daryl asked.

"Pretty good. They were offices, and they were trashed but clear. Hopefully we can turn this place into a home. Be inside before winter hits…" T-Dog kept droning on, but Daryl's mind veered off when he said _home_. Would there ever be chance to call any place a home again? In this shitty world, Daryl doubted that for himself. He headed to the end of the hallway and started opening doors. There wasn't much in the rooms aside from desks and file cabinets, but before he could open the next door, he heard the distinctive groans of walkers. Daryl whistled for T-Dog, who peered out of a room 2 doors down. Daryl held up 3 fingers. T-Dog nodded, disappeared into the room for another second, and came out with a bat. He went into the room next to the walker one and banged on the wall to attract them away from the door. He came out of the room, and Daryl opened the door, aimed with a loaded bow and his buck knife.

The room smelled of decaying flesh, but Daryl ignored the smell, aiming his bow at the first one who turned his attention to the creak of the door. He pulled another arrow out and tried to reload as fast as possible, but the other two were already close to him. He tried for his buck knife, but was knocked down. T-Dog came up and smashed the one lunging for Daryl's jugular, in the head knocking him onto Daryl. He scrambled for the knife and shoved it into the walker's eye, twisting it forward. He yanked it out, wiping the blood onto the walker's clothes. He stood up, and went to retrieve the arrow from the other, when he noticed the side room. He grabbed the arrow and motioned for T-Dog. He pointed to the door and the man nodded. He headed towards the door, while Daryl reloaded his bow. Daryl nodded and T-Dog opened the door. The walker hadn't even noticed the two men, and Daryl shot it straight through. He went to retrieve the arrow again, and noticed the walker. It was a woman, but that wasn't what stuck out to Daryl. It was the woman's stomach. It was chewed at, all the way to the intestine. Daryl gagged when he realized it. She was pregnant. Daryl held the bile running up his throat, grabbed the arrow, and ran out of the room. T-Dog followed him out, finding him at the steps. He patted him on the back, but Daryl shoved him away.

"Fine. Just needa catch my breath" he said.

"Naw man. I know. It's okay. You can miss Sophia too." T-Dog said, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Whatever man. Let's go tell Rick were done" Daryl huffed. T-Dog sighed, but followed him down the stairs, but couldn't find Rick anywhere down there.

"Fuck!" Daryl yelled, noticing the door wide open. He ran out the door, yelling Rick's name. He didn't see him anywhere.

"RICK!" he yelled again, and sighed when he heard a response.

"Keep it quiet. Are you trying to attract anything around us?" Rick hissed.

"Well maybe next time you should let us know before you do a disappearing act." T-Dog huffed behind Daryl.

"Well ,what did you find?" Rick asked.

"Not much. A few walkers, but we dealt with 'em." Daryl said.

"Alright. Guess we can head back and bring the others up." Rick said, heading towards the truck. T-Dog and Daryl followed.

"So, what were ya doing out here?" T-Dog asked.

"I thought I'd check out the other building, and it's a major score." Rick said with joy.

"Well?" Daryl asked when he didn't say what it was. "Wha' the hell is it?" but Rick shook his head.

"It's a surprise, for the whole group." Were his last words on the subject for now.

* * *

They headed back to the group, making a small stop into the town to rummage a few houses and picking up some blankets, clothes, and other need miscellaneous for the night. Daryl grabbed a few extra sheets.

When they finally got to the group, it was near sundown. Before Rick could even get out of the truck, Lori and Carl were at his door. He hugged them fiercely, even though it had only been a couple hours. Daryl grunted and headed towards his bike, but was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around him. Stunned, he pulled himself away to notice it was Carol.

"F'ck" he mumbled to himself. He had forgotten what had happened before he left. Well for the most part.

"I'm glad you made it back safely" she whispered, looking at the ground. He huffed, rolled his eyes, and walked to his bike. She followed.

"Told ya I would." He said.

"I know, but I can still worry." She smiled. Irritated, he couldn't hold back his words.

"Dammit woman! I don't need ya worryin' 'bout me! I can take care of my damn self. Have been my whole life!" he spat, and he noticed the tears welling in her eyes, but she held them back.

"Fine. Daryl. Fine." She annunciated each word. She grabbed her bag off the bike and stomped towards the others. He turned to his bike and shoved his bow onto the back. He just stood there for few and hadn't even heard anybody walk up.

"Are you okay?" T-Dog's voice crept up behind him.

"What the 'ell do you care? Shouldn't ya be comfortin' Carol?" Daryl huffed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" T-Dog's voice rose in frustration.

"Ya don't gotta lie. I know 'bout ya and her." A little anger came off of his words.

"Well I don't know what you are talking about, since I thought you and her were together."

"Nah. And anyways I seen you and her before, when you guys went back ta the barn." He said, a lump forming in his throat.

"Seriously? Your buggin' over a hug?" T-Dog laughed hysterically. Anger was boiling in Daryl.

"Shuddup. I aint _buggin' _over nothing. Just drop it" Daryl said louder than he meant, but T-Dog started laughing again.

"Man. It's okay if you like her. Hell, everyone wants love, especially in these times." T-Dog smiled.

"Right. Well unlike ya, I aint no pansy" Daryl huffed.

"Then Carol is one big pansy." T-Dog pointed in her direction before walking off. Daryl looked in Carol's direction, catching her staring at him, before she looked down.

"_Naw brother. She don' love ya. None of 'em do. 'Cept me brother." _Merle's words rumbled in his head. He shook them away, and stole another look at Carol before mounting his bike. Rick had let everyone else know the plan, and they all got back in their vehicles, headed to a new destination.

**So I have the next few chapters pretty much figured out. So hopefully I can write them pretty quickly, but I'm in the runs for a job, so I'm not entirely sure. I thank you again for reading and reviewing. Even though I've said this like every other time, I really love all the words I get. You guys make my day. Thank you again! :)**


	6. Unintentional Feelings

**Okay. I seriously procrastinated this chapter soo much! I was just so lazy. But here it finally is! I thought I'd also make it up by doubling up chapters, so chapter 7 is up as well! Hope it makes up for it. If not, I apologize. :/ Thanks to LexiieWuncler for being so great! :) Enjoy :)**

Carol couldn't understand why she was so mad. She really didn't have any right to. She knew how Daryl was, but she was tired of him trying to push everyone away. Especially her. And his words cut her more than either of them had intended. She wasn't trying to be a burden, but she was. Again.

About an hour of traveling, they had finally made it to the prison. The sun was about to set, so it was good that they made it before nightfall. Rick had told everyone there was a little cleaning up before everyone could come in. All of the men grabbed sheets out of the bed of the truck and headed for the first building. The woman figured it was walker bodies, so they all waited by the vehicles, excited little murmurs floating around. Carol just stood there, watching all of them, so excited, and she couldn't help but smile at the others happiness. Glenn came out and motioned for them to come in.

The place didn't look very homey, but it was more of a paradise than the highway and RV was. It was more of a work building than a living area, but it was equipped with a large living room, and a kitchen that the women almost wept over.

"You know this stuff more than likely won't work right?" Glenn's voice came from behind.

"It's nice to dream though." Lori laughed. Rick's voice echoed into the kitchen. He was asking everyone to come into the living room.

It was a pretty big room, almost the size of Herschel's dining room and kitchen together. The walls were painted a very faded blue color, and in some places you could see little nicks and dings in the walls. The bricks were a dull red, but from the amount of soot in it, she figured it still worked. The couches and chairs though, looked almost new. Like they were just starting to fix the place up, but never got to finish.

Everyone started to take seats, and Carol opted for the seat beside Andrea, but before she could even sit, T-Dog plopped into the unoccupied cushion, and smiled up at her. She glared at him, knowing he knew she was going for the seat, but he just silently chuckled at her, motioning towards the couch at the opposite side. She didn't even have to look back to know who was on it. She scowled at T-Dog and made her way to the wall. She knew Daryl was staring at her, but she kept her focus on the floor. Rick cleared his throat and started to speak

"So here's how this is going to work. For the first week, we will all camp out together in this room. Then, if we don't have any trouble during that time, we can start taking rooms. During the week, everyone will be taking trips into town to scavenge stores and homes. It looked pretty safe when we made a quick stop back into town, but everyone will at least have one person accompany them into town understand?" He tried to sound demanding, but his stature showed nothing more than a man who was trying to be the peacekeeper. Everyone nodded in agreement, and started to get up to explore some more, but Daryl spoke up.

"Uhh Rick? Ya forgetting somethin'?" he asked, but Rick looked at him for more information, but it dawned on him.

"Oh yeah. There's another building in this area, in case you haven't noticed it. Well I found a pretty huge generator in it, and it looks like it needs a bit of tuning up, but I think we can find the things we need in town and fix it up, and there's more than enough fuel in that building to last years. There's also a case of stairs that run down underground to a door, but I'd rather we not go down there" Rick explained.

Everyone was so happy about this place. It was secure, with the possibility of being a long-term home. Carol though, couldn't think of any place she could really call a home. She had lost the most important person that made even hell feel like home. Even though these people had become a family, she couldn't feel like she used to. She knew she was on the verge of crying, but shoved the tears away. She could still feel Daryl's eyes on her, but she walked into the kitchen.

After everyone had gotten a good look around, the women started dinner, while the men went and tried to secure the fence as good as they could without a running generator. The women were so happy to have a kitchen full of food, even though they couldn't cook half of it yet. They prepared as good of a meal as they could. They used a couple of Daryl's game from earlier, along with some veggies and a couple loaves of bread. Once the men had finished working, everyone started taking seats at the booth in the back of the kitchen. Carol started passing out the plates as Beth made them. She had gotten everyone, and she made her own. Excusing herself from the rest of the group, she went outside and sat against the wall and ate. She watched the Georgia sky become brighter and brighter as the stars kept popping up. She hadn't even noticed that Daryl came outside, until he sat beside her.

"What do you want Daryl?" she sighed, hoping that he would just go away and leave her alone. He didn't.

"Jus' making sure you're a'ight." He said innocently, but Carol was frustrated with him.

"No. That's not fair. You don't get to be mad at me for worrying about you and then still worry about me. I don't need you worrying about me. I'm fine." She huffed, standing up and storming back inside, but he caught her arm.

"Let go of me Daryl." She said without looking at him. He tried to get her to look at him, but when she refused, he dropped her arm. When she just stood there, he walked in front of her, but she continued to look at her plate instead of him.

"Why can I never think straight when I'm around ya?" he said to himself, frustrated. She looked up now, staring at the man who was pacing in front of her, his brow furrowed. She hadn't seen him this confused and upset since Rick told him about Merle. She put her plate on the ground and walked up towards him, steadying him to stay still with both her arms. He looked up at her, confused, like he was unsure what to say.

"It's okay. I'm not mad see?" she smiled at him, but he didn't even smirk.

"It's not funny! I can't even let ya outta my sight without worryin' bout ya." He said, ashamed of his own words.

"I shouldn't care 'bout ya at all! Ya ain't my business!" he was trying to fight his own words, but he knew he had lost when he said he worried about her.

"Daryl." She barely whispered his name, but he stopped and looked at her.

"I don't care that you worry about me. I care that you won't let me worry about you. I care about you, and I don't want you lose you" she said in a hushed voice.

"Ya can't care 'bout me. I'm no good for ya. Even in this world, I'm nothing." He said, walking away from her before she could say anything.

This time she let the tears fall.

**Thanks so much for reading. I know I have made most of the chapters super sad, but I think chapter 7 will make up for it. Kinda. Thanks for reading and reviewing. :)**


	7. Slurred Speech

**Okay. Hopefully this chapter makes up for my lateness and laziness. If it doesn't, I don't really care. But I hope it does. Thanks again to my beta LexiieWuncler for editing. She is so nice about my weird timing. Taking too long or going back to back chapters. Enjoy reading :)**

It had been a week since Carol and Daryl's talk. They had hardly spoken since then. Daryl took any precaution he could to keep away from her. She knew it too, but she hadn't bothered to change that.

Everyone in the group had been taking turns going into town and picking up supplies for the group and themselves. Rick and Lori were the first ones to go, and they came back with a king size bed, along with a twin for Carl. They said it was for their room, so everyone had decided to try and find beds. Everyone had been successful to finding something to sleep on. By the end of the week, the living room had 10 beds stacked up against the front wall. Anywhere from a twin, to a king size bed. They had even gotten one for Michonne, if she joined the group. Herschel didn't even blink an eye when Maggie and Glenn came back with only a queen bed. Beth giggled and Glenn went red in the face, but continued to carry the mattress. Carol had only made a couple trips into town. They were both with Andrea and Herschel. Even with the two trips, she had managed to find a queen size bed and some other things for a bedroom. Andrea joked about being jealous over Carol's score, and she couldn't help but smile.

The men had been working on the generator all week, and they had gotten it running, until one of the belts broke on it. It was a very short lived victory. Glenn offered to go on the search for another, and Daryl offered to be backup. The two set off into town as Carol had just come outside.

"Where are they going" she asked Rick.

"Belt broke on the generator. They're going to see if they can find a replacement." He replied, wiping grease onto a dirty cloth.

"Oh. Well me and Beth were wondering if anyone wanted us to start moving things into their rooms." She asked, looking back at the closed gate.

"Oh. Uh. Sure. I don't think they'll mind where you set them up. Lori can show you where our room is, if you don't mind." Rick said, examining the generator.

"Not a problem." She smiled, heading back inside.

Rick, Lori, and Carl's room was easy to set up, since it was the only one on the main floor. Beth and Carol moved the desk off to one side. The had swept up the floor as best as they could, before bringing in the beds. They placed clean sheets on top of the beds, so they could put them on themselves. It took a few hours before everyone had their room set up. Carol, exhausted, plopped down onto the soft bed. She sighed at the comfort of it. Even with the bed in the RV, she hadn't felt this relaxed on it. She was so glad that she had a room that was her own. Even a bathroom with it. She hadn't felt this happy in a while. She was still lying on the bed when she heard a knock against the open door. She opened one eye and clothes. She noticed his smirk, and she smiled inwardly.

"I was jus' wonderin' if ya knew where my room was?" he asked stepping inside. Carol stood up and pointed out the door, across the hall. Her face turned a blazing red when he looked back at her with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk.

"Uh. Beth brought that one up. I was putting Glenn and Maggie's room together." She stopped herself now before she started stammering.

"Its okay." He said, the smirk still lingering.

"Uh. Daryl. I want to say sorry for before. I didn't mean to make you mad or anything. I just. I don't know. I'm just sorry." She was trying so hard not to cry, but she felt the tears welling up. She turned around and sat on the bed and stared at the floor. She waited for what felt like forever before looking back up. Daryl was gone and the door was closed. She wiped away the few tear that had fell and went into the bathroom. She hardly recognized herself in the mirror. She was pale and pasty, her eyes had deep, dark circles under them, that almost looked like 2 black eyes. Her hair was growing out and the curling ends almost touched her ears. The grey looking color started fading back to a light brown. She looked like she was 40 and 70 at the same time. She turned on the sink faucet and splashed some cold water on her face. She wiped her face with her shirt and headed downstairs to help with dinner.

While Glenn and Daryl were in town, Daryl decided to raid the liquor shelves of the superstore. He picked up quite a few bottles of assorted drinks, along with a couple cases of beer and wine. When Glenn had found him, he gave him a questioning look, but held up 6 different belts in victory.

"Belts and beer. One of my father's favorite combinations" Daryl joked, but the boy didn't laugh.

"It was just a joke. C'mon. Let's get back to fix this stupid thing" Daryl said, heading back out the front.

It hadn't taken long to put on the new belt, and they pulled the lever in hopes. The generator started whirring, and they yelled in excitement when it stayed on.

"Well boys" Rick said "Looks like tonight is a night of celebration!" he exclaimed.

"Well it's a good thing Daryl picked up a butt load of drinks" Glenn laughed, and the other men joined. Except Daryl, who was heading into the house.

Carol had walked into the kitchen, where she heard the women, who was overjoyed about something. She questioningly looked around the corner, to see the women in the kitchen surrounded by the microwave.

"What's going on?" she asked

"It's great! There's power!" Lori exclaimed. Carol couldn't help but smile. _Not only a working stove, but that also means hot water_! She thought.

"We can make a real meal tonight" Maggie said, a small smile on the girls face.

"Well, let's get started!" Beth exclaimed.

It had taken them half the time to make a dinner, and they were so happy about it. They had made the last of the squirrels, along with some instant mash potatoes and gravy and some macaroni. Carol opted to make a small dessert with some canned cherries and a homemade crust. The women still couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces over the opportunity to use a kitchen. They presented dinner with a smile.

"We can't thank you enough for fixing that generator. It felt so nice to cook in a real kitchen again!" Lori smiled.

"Not that I really know what that's like" Andrea laughed.

"Well it's in advantage for all of us. Hot water and better cooked food, not that you girls don't cook well in the first place, but it's healthier than out in the open. It'll also be better for if we have any accidents or anything" Herschel said.

"Well now. Let's enjoy this feast, and celebrate our new home" Rick said, holding up a box of wine.

"Where did that come from?" Beth asked.

"Daryl thought it'd be nice to have a mini drinking celebration." Glenn said.

"Yeah. Except this time, let's limit Glenn. Poor boy couldn't hold down much last time." Andrea laughed.

"Neither could you." Glenn retorted.

"Yeah. I remember" Andrea said, holding her stomach, and the rest of the group busted into laughter.

"Well then. Let's pour some glasses and enjoy dinner." Herschel piped, grabbing glasses out of the cupboard. Everyone, but Herschel and Carl enjoyed the wine. Before they knew it, they had already gone through two bottles, and were starting on a third. Rick had started pouring more wine into everyone's glasses, very sloppily. Everyone was about to enjoy their glass when Carol spoke up.

"I think we should dedicate this bottle to everyone we have lost in our travels." She said, her words barely slurring.

"To anyone that has lost their life in this cruel world, that for some insane reason, we're still fighting to live in." Andrea said, raising her glass.

"We hope you're having a hell of a better time wherever you are!" Maggie exclaimed, earning a scowl from her father.

"We miss you all every day. We love you" Beth whispered. Everyone had a moment of silence for those they had lost, and Carol couldn't help but smile at the thought of Sophia, in heaven with her mother, father, Dale, Ed, Jacqui, and Otis. She hadn't even met Otis, but she felt that the man died in a righteous cause, and he had earned his place at the table with her daughter.

After the third bottle, everyone had dispersed to their rooms, except for Herschel and Glenn. Someone had to be the sober one on watch. Even though they had the generator running, they still wanted some extra protection against the gates. Carol staggered to her door, but she opened Daryl's instead. She tried to close it quietly, but ended up falling against the floor.

"The hell?" he exclaimed, coming out of the bathroom in only his boxers, and a toothbrush in his mouth.

"What the hell are ya doin' clumsy?" he laughed, throwing the toothbrush into the bathroom, and headed towards the drunken Carol.

"You. Sir. Drive. Me. Crazy." She said, a small burp coming out afterwards. She giggled at it.

"Ya's drunk. We should get ya to bed." He said, trying to drag her back to her room, but she broke free and stumbled to his bed.

"Yours is so much softer." She said, petting the bed.

"Fine. Ya sleep 'ere and I got your room" he said, heading out the door.

"Wait!" she yelled. He turned back and looked at her.

"Will you sit with me for a few?" she asked, her words heavy. He sighed and sat beside her. She stared at him, and even drunk, she couldn't help her thoughts.

"I love you Daryl Dixon." She thought, but hadn't realized she said it.

"What?" he asked, surprised of her words.

"What?" she asked back

"What did ya just say?" he asked, staring her down. Before she could answer, her mouth flew to her hand and she ran to the bathroom. He rushed after her, and held her hair back as she kneeled in front the toilet. The bile burned her throat as it came up, and she started to cry. Daryl took his other hand and rubbed small circles on her back with his palm. It went on for about 10 minutes, but it finally seemed like she was done. She laid her head on the seat, but only for a few seconds before Daryl lifted her off the ground and headed back into the room. He gently laid her on the bed, and started to cover her up, but her hand caught his arm.

"Stay with me, please?" she asked, her eyes closed. She heard him sigh, but he laid with her, overtop the covers. She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into him chest. His heart started racing, and Carol smiled into his chest at his reaction.

He waited for what felt like forever, until she fell asleep. He slowly peeled himself away from her, and went into her room. He snatched her pillow and blankets off her bed and headed back for his room.

"_First night with a bed, and I don't get to sleep in it_." Daryl thought, laying the blankets onto the floor. He finally got settled into as comfortable a position as possible and closed his eyes.

"_I love you Daryl Dixon_." Came into his head. How could someone like her, a creature of pure and love someone like Daryl. A man who couldn't even try to find the poor woman's daughter, without almost dying in the process.

"_It was just her drunkness." _he told himself, but someone in his mind, and heart, he wished it wasn't. It took him quite a while to fall asleep, but when he did, it wasn't peaceful.

**So did this make up for it? No? Okay :( Ill try to be more prompt with chapter 8. Hopefully by Friday or Saturday.. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. :)**


	8. Little Flirt

**Okay I know I said like Friday or Saturday, but I forgot that it was memorial weekend, and I didn't want to bother anyone with it. I also ran into a bit of writers block. But here it is. Thanks again to LexiieWuncler for beta-ing and helping with the writers block. :) Along with all your kind words.**

Daryl could hardly sleep, and by dawn, he got up, grabbed his crossbow and headed downstairs. He headed for Rick's room, but spotted him in the kitchen, starting up a pot of coffee.

"Morning." Rick greeted him with a smile. Daryl just grunted and shoved his shoulder up, signaling he was going out to hunt.

"Don't want to take anybody with you?" Rick said, just as Andrea walked in the kitchen.

"Go where?" she asked, grabbing the unfinished coffee and pouring a cup.

"Daryl's going hunting. I suggested he'd take someone with him. You up for it?" he asked her.

"I can go by myself. Always 'ave." Daryl said, hoping he would drop it.

"Sounds fun." Andrea said. Rick nodded and agreed. Daryl huffed.

"Fine. But I aint watchin' your ass Annie Oakley." Daryl spun out of the room.

He walked outside and around the back. He sat up against the wall and watched the outside start to wake up. His mind drifted to Carol. He tried so hard to keep away from her, but she didn't let him stay away for too long. He was making her soft, and it was bad. He never was in this situation. He was only with one girl, and she ended up using him just to get to Merle. He was only 17 then, but it made him hate the world even more than before. He was just a sick pawn in her game that she ended up losing. Merle used her and dropped her like she was trash. She tried coming back to Daryl, but he did everything but spit at the woman when she did. He rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the world around him. Even in this hellhole, it was peaceful right here. He started drifting off, when someone kicked his boot. He opened one eye to see Andrea standing over him.

"Finally" he said, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Ya at least got something ta protect yourself?" he asked, noticing her lack of weapon. She patted her hip and pulled up her shirt to reveal her pistol.

"Anything quieter? Don't need a herd just cause you shot one." he explained, giving her a look. When she shook her head, he sighed and reached for his boot, pulling his knife out of its sheath.

"Here" he said, handing the blade to her.

"Thanks." She said "ready to go?"

"Been ready." He said, heading to the gate.

They had been out for a few hours now, and they were having little luck. With only two rabbits, Andrea was ready to give up.

"We've been out here for a while and haven't caught anything!" she whined.

"Well if you and your big feet didn't scare any potential game away with every step you take, we might be doing better!" Daryl spat back.

"I don't have big feet!" she defended.

"Whatever. Just walk like a woman or something and we can find something decent." He said, walking forward.

"What's your deal?" she asked, quickening her pace to match his.

"What do ya mean?" he stopped and faced her. She looked him up and down.

"When you first joined the group, you acted like you and your brother were doing us a favor joining." Daryl snorted at that. It was partially true.

"But your brother went missing, and you still stayed. You could do fine by yourself, why stay?" she took a step closer to him. He was angered by her words. It wasn't any of her business. Yet she kept prodding.

"You gotta have a reason to be staying here." She said, taking another step, forcing Daryl against a tree.

"Whats the deal ?" she asked, seductively running her hand over his chest.

"Get the hell off of me blondie!" he shoved her away.

"Don't play coy. You know there's something here." She said as she pulled off her shirt.

"I don't know what the hell ya talking about. Now put ya shirt back and let's go back." Daryl said, turning and headed back to camp.

"Crazy bitch" he muttered to himself.

* * *

The sun was pouring into the room, forcing Carol to wake up. In a daze, she sat up, and her head started to spin. She placed her feet on the ground and placed her head between her knees. She couldn't help but taste the disgusting taste of wine and vomit in her mouth. She couldn't really remember anything past the second bottle of wine. When she finally felt the room come to a halt, she stood up. She looked around, confused. This wasn't her room, yet her sheets and pillow were on the floor next to the bed. She got up and went to the door. She opened it and went in the hallway. It didn't even take long for her to find out the room she came out of. Right in front of her was her room, the door open.

"Oh God" she thought. What had she done last night? She tried to back to last night, but she couldn't remember anything past the kitchen. She walked back into Daryl's room, grabbed her bedding, and went into her room, shutting the door tightly behind her. She threw the sheets and pillow onto her bed and went into the bathroom.

She turned on the shower, and stripped off the dirty clothes. When she stepped in the tub, the water greeted her. It was hot and turned her skin a slight red, but she sighed in happiness. She loved the feeling of the water smashing into her skin, washing away all the dirt and grime over the past week. She hadn't remembered to grab many toiletries, but she remembered body wash. She opened it up and inhaled the inviting scent. A mix of lavender and vanilla hit her nostrils and she poured a generous amount into her hands. She scrubbed it in as best as she could, and she washed it off. She stayed in the shower as long as possible, but the hot water started running out. She finally turned off the water and stepped out into the cool air. Her body shivered and goose bumps starting forming. She ran into the bedroom. She put on her last clean outfit, thinking of seeing if another trip into town was possible.

"_Everyone could use some more clothes_" she thought, and decided to ask Rick later. They hadn't found a washer or dryer on the property, so they still had to get those, but she didn't mind washing by hand. She walked back into the bathroom, to try and wash the lingering taste out of her mouth as best she could before going downstairs.

"It's going to be a long day." She thought, gathering her clothes and heading downstairs

* * *

Carol was out back, using a tub of water and a washing board she found under the kitchen sink. She was working hard on one of Carl's shirts. It had stains of every size and color.

"_Even in a world of nothing, that boy still could make a mess of his clothes_" she laughed to herself.

As she was working the last scrubs into the shirt, she noticed an angry Daryl storming back into camp. A sad and slightly distraught Andrea followed far behind. Carol wanted to talk to Daryl, but she thought better of it right now. Andrea came up and sat beside Carol, playing with the tip of a knife.

"Everything okay?" carol asked, scrubbing at the clothes.

"I just think I made a mess of things." Andrea said. Carol placed the clothes into the water to "soak" and sat next to the sad woman.

"Daryl just doesn't like anybody getting in his way." She offered, patting the woman's shoulder sympathetically.

"It wasn't anything like that. I basically threw myself at him and he flat out rejected me" she covered her face with her hands. Carol pulled her hand away.

"Oh" was all she could say. She went back to scrubbing the clothes.

"What do you think I should do?" Andrea asked. Carol sighed. She didn't know.

"I don't really know. I've never been in that situation." She continued with the clothes

"Maybe he's just playing hard to get." Andrea perked up.

"I'll let him cool down and try again. Maybe he just likes the chasing games." Andrea looked like a giggling school girl right then. Carol didn't even look up at her. She took the clean clothes and wrung them out, a little rougher than necessary before hanging them in the sun.

* * *

The rest of the day sped by, and Carol was glad. After everyone had finished with dinner, Carol offered to do dishes. Lori and Beth offered to help, but she waved them away. As weird as it sounded, Carol found peace in the process. It was a mindless task and it helped her gather her thoughts. She was busy working on one of the last dishes and humming to herself. She hadn't noticed that Daryl came in until he leaned up against the counter, next to her.

"Oh!" her hand jumped to her heart, feeling it lightly slam against her chest. She had gotten away most of the day avoiding him, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. She placed the cloth she was using on the faucet and wiped her hands on her jeans.

"Didn't mean to scare ya." He smirked.

"Is there something you needed Daryl?" she tried to sound annoyed and his smirk turned into a frown.

"Is ev'rything alright?" his voice was filled with concern.

"Nothing. Just tired is all" she faked a yawn and headed for her room.

"Does that mean another rendezvous in my room" Daryl laughed. Carol spun on her heel, her face red to see an amused look on his face.

"You are a pig." She spat, and stormed off to her room. All amusement was sucked out of him when she said that.

"Ah hell." He said aloud, slamming his fist into the counter, feeling the immediate pressure in his hand. He stretched his fingers, knowing there was going to be some swelling later, and went to his room.

Rick had decided to head into town tomorrow for some baby things and pick up necessities and Daryl and Glenn were tagging along so Daryl decided to go to bed. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He woke up a few hours later when he heard his door creek open. He started to reach for his crossbow when he made out a womanly figure.

"Carol?" his voice was groggy, as he tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes.

"Guess again.." the light voice was right in his ear.

"Andrea?" he asked, already sure of the voice.

"Mmhmm." She mumbled in between placing kisses on his neck.

"What are you doing?" he said, shoving her off again. He struggled to stand, still half asleep.

"I know you're playing hard to get, but we both know how this is going to end." She said huskily, and even in the darkness he could make out her figure, undressing. He finally found the feeling in his legs, and reached the light switch. He stared at the woman. He couldn't lie. She was a figure. Thin, but not scary thin. She had curves in all the right places, and she was standing naked right in front of him. Even with the willing woman, he felt sick to his stomach and one thing came to mind.

"_Carol_." He thought to himself, and his mind became clear.

"Dammit woman! Can you put your clothes back on?" he looked away, way too late.

"What's wrong? Too woman for you?" she asked, taking a step towards him, but he put his hand up, looking back at her, keeping his gaze on her face.

"Look. I don't know say to make you believe this, but I'm not playing any games. I don't want you and I never will. You just ain't my type. I prefer my women not to be umm. What's the word I'm looking for? Whores? Yeah. That sounds right." He said, watching her face twist into a tie between disgust, embarrassment, and horror.

"You know what? You're a real pig Daryl Dixon!" She yelled, scrambling for her clothes and storming out.

"Not the first one to think that blondie!" he retorted, slamming the door and jumping back into bed.

"Damn woman." He laughed himself to sleep.

**I've already started chapter 9, but not sure how many are going to be happy because it gets…well yeah. I already have like half of 10 written so I think these two will come out a lot quicker. Thanks again for all your kind words. I seriously love reading them, so keep them coming! Please? :)**


	9. A Fallen Love

**This one was difficult. I think I had like 5 different drafts. None I really liked, but I took bits and pieces from them, and I think it turned out pretty good. It's longer than any of the other chapters. That might be why it took so long. You may not like me in the end, but you might. It's bittersweet. Thanks again to LexiieWuncler. Enjoy :)**

Glenn was gone. Rick was injured. Michonne was passed out. He was the only one left. Stuck in a store, surrounded. He wasn't sure if was going to make it out.

**Earlier that day**

That morning was buzzing with words about Daryl and Andrea's spat. It woke everyone up. Even Rick and Lori, who had a whole floor between them. When carol had come down, she heard Maggie and Lori laughing about it, but before Carol could comment, Andrea walked into the kitchen. Her face was puffy, and her eyes red. She shuffled around the kitchen silently, and the others returned to what they were doing. Carol busied herself setting the table slowly, watching the women looking at each other when Andrea wasn't around.

Beth had just started putting the food on the table when Rick, Carl, and Glenn walked in.

"Morning all" Rick greeted, planting a kiss on Lori.

"Eww. I'm not hungry anymore!" Carl gagged at his parents PDA. Everyone laughed at the boy.

"There will be one day when you love someone and want to show it." Lori taunted the child, but he shook his head.

"No way. That's gross. It would be like kissing a dog." He stuck out his tongue. His mom laughed and pushed him towards the table.

"You say that now. Now come on. You got to eat and then we start your schoolwork." The woman said, pushing a plate of food in front of the boy.

"Why can't I go with dad and them? Learning how to fight is a lot more important that fractions." The boy whined, shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"You can't go because it could be dangerous and I need you here to protect your mom and brother or sister. You have to be the man of this family when I'm not here." Rick said matter-of-factly.

"Alright." The sadden boy replied, stuffing more food into his mouth.

"Good. Now Glenn, Daryl, and I are going into town for some essentials and whatnot. If you need anything, write it down and give it to one of us. We'll be leaving in about an hour, or whenever Daryl decides to join us." Rick chuckled, pushing his empty plate away.

"Whenever ya ready" Daryl's voice came from the doorframe. He walked towards the table, grabbing a plate of food and taking a seat next to Glenn.

"I knocked on your door this morning, but you didn't answer. Thought you were still sleeping." Glenn said.

"Been up since dawn. Thought I'd do some more hunting. No luck though." He said through a mouthful of food.

"Oh. Well next time let someone know. You should also take someone with you. I thought I said that yesterday." Rick huffed.

"Ya did. I would 'ave but I didn't want to wake anyone up" he replied, spitting a little of food out.

"Do you have to be so disgusting?" Andrea yelled. Everyone looked up stunned at her sudden outburst.

"Sorry princess. Something crawl up your ass last night?" Daryl chuckled, but Rick gave him a stern look.

"You are an ass Daryl Dixon!" Andrea spat and stormed out.

"Carl. Why don't you go and get your books and start on your work?" Rick offered the boy, shooing him out of the kitchen.

"Not like I didn't see that. Or hear it." He murmured, walking out.

"That woman is just a handful anymore." Maggie said, getting up to clear the table.

"What the hell happened last night Daryl?" Rick asked, wanting figure out this drama.

"I don't know. Crazy bitch coming into my room last night. Practically trying to rape my ass. She got mad cause I kicked her out of my room." Daryl laughed.

"Poor Andrea." Beth commented.

"No. She has no right to do that and get pissed at him." Maggie defended. Carol looked at the girl, glad she said what Carol was thinking.

"I know that. I also know how it is to feel rejected and have nobody." Beth hung her head. Carol sighed and hugged the girl.

"You aren't alone. You still have your sister and father. You also have all of us. So does Andrea." Carol consoled the girl.

"Yeah you do. Now stop this and help me clean this up so we can help dad." Maggie piqued.

"Yeah. I think we should head out too. Do you mind going around to see if anyone needed anything Glenn? I'm going to get the truck ready. Let's head out in 15 okay?" Rick headed outside.

"Did you guys need anything?" Glenn asked, pushing his chair in.

"Umm. I need a couple of things. Mind coming with Glenn so I can make sure you get the list?" Maggie headed out of the kitchen, turning her head slightly to see Glenn right behind her.

"Could they be more obvious?" Beth laughed, and Carol couldn't help but giggle along.

"They're in love. The stolen moments are some of the best." Carol smiled. Beth smiled and she stood up.

"They are. I'm going to go help my father. Thank you Carol." The girl disappeared out of the room. Carol tried to think of times when she was like Maggie. It was a very short time, but it was one she cherished. She started to drift in thought, when she remembered Daryl was still in there.

"Oh. Are you finished?" she asked, reaching for his empty plate. He nodded his head. She grabbed it and placed it in the sink.

"You were good with her." Daryl gave her a small smile.

"Beth? It was nothing. It's true though. She needs to know that." Carol smiled.

"Yeah." His voice drifted. Carol fidgeted for her thoughts for a second before speaking.

"Why did you reject Andrea?" Carol felt her face flush as the words came out. She had no reason to ask, other than her curiosity. Daryl gave her an odd look, and carol felt her face flush even more.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business. Forget I asked." Carol said, turning to walk out.

"Wait." Daryl said. He looked around, and grabbed her hand.

"Where are w-"She was cut off by a shush. He pulled her out behind the building. He dropped her hand as soon as they were out of the doorframe, but he only stayed a few feet away from her.

"Alright. Can I ask why we're out here?" she gave him a questioning look.

"Ya asked me why I rejected that skank. Why do ya wanna know?" he took a step towards her, and she took a sharp breath.

"No. Forget her. I don't even care about her. That's why. Just a cheap fuck. It don't matter anyways. I'm no good for those types of things." His voice was sad, and he looked torn.

"Daryl. You can't think that. You think your some person who doesn't deserve love. You're wrong. Everyone deserves that. I mean look at me. I got pregnant in college by a guy I hardly knew. Married him. Got beat for 12 years. Lost my husband. Lost my daughter. I've had a pretty shitty life, but I had a wonderful daughter who loved me. Who still loves me. I also have all these people I can call a family. Even you." She smiled as she grabbed his hand.

"Ya only had a shitty life cause you married a pig son-of-a-bitch. He's not much of a loss." Daryl smirked and Carol gave a small smile

"No. Your right. He wasn't, but he's really the only person I've ever been with." She said sheepishly. "Only person I've ever had feelings for…Until now." She looked at the ground. Daryl twitched, before letting go of her hand and sliding to the ground. He ran his hands over his face, before looking up at her. She was looking down at him, and he patted the ground beside him. She sat down, looking forward.

"Why?" he asked, looking at his hands.

"I don't know." She said truthfully. She didn't really have an answer to it. It was just some spark that started burning whenever he came around. Her stomach would turn into knots and her mind became a jumbled mess. She was a fool when he was near.

"I don't know what ya see in a shit-heap like me. I ain't no good." Carol started to protest, but he put his hand up. "No matter what ya think I've done since we met, I done a lot worse shit before then. A lifetime of sins can't be washed away by one good deed." He couldn't understand what she saw, but every time he saw her, he didn't think of his bad. He thought of her good. He was about to speak when he heard Glenn and Rick yelling.

"Shit!" he exasperated, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed Carols hand and pulled her up. "I gotta go." He started walking, and Carol was right beside him.

"Be safe okay?" her blue eyes looked up at him, concern filling them. He nodded and she planted a kiss on him, before turning around. He turned to her dumbfounded, before running to the truck of impatient men.

"Where were you?" rick asked, annoyed. Glenn looked at him funny, and Daryl could see his hair was more of a mess than usual.

"Jus doing some shit. Let's go" Daryl climbed into the back of the truck, placing his bow beside him. Rick shook his head and slid into the driver's seat, and Glenn copied. The engine clicked a few times before turning, and they headed out.

Carol watched them out the front window, head down the path, out the gate, and past the woods. She grabbed her necklace and said a small prayer. They would be okay.

Andrea watched them from her bedroom window. She kicked the wall when she saw their kiss. She didn't know how she would, but she was going to get back at Carol for making her look like a fool.

-

Rick had informed Daryl and Glenn about their trip. He had intended on going into town to get supplies, but he also had another plan. He noticed one of the last times he was in the superstore, a backroom full of guns and other survival supplies, and a map to some town about 15 miles away. He wanted to see if there were any other survivors and check it out. Glenn was hesitant, but agreed. Daryl just shrugged his shoulders.

"Glad to see you're so calm." Rick laughed as he pulled into the superstore parking lot. There were a couple wanderers out front, but they were easily dealt with. Daryl slung his crossbow over his back and headed into the store.

"I was hoping to pick up some baby supplies now so then Lori will stop nagging about the baby not having a decent living space. So I'm going to go see what I can find. Glenn, why don't you give Daryl a few of the lists and you guys can go from there." Rick grabbed a shopping cart and headed down an aisle.

"Guess we should have brought another car huh?" Glenn laughed, giving Daryl a few folded, ratty pieces of paper.

"Mmhmm." Daryl said, grabbing a cart for himself and heading down the aisle.

"So…What's up with you and Carol?" Glenn asked from the aisle across. Daryl almost stopped in his tracks, but he forced himself to walk further.

"What's it to you?" Daryl huffed.

"Nothing man. Just making small talk I guess." Glenn offered. Daryl heard the plunk of items hitting the bottom of a cart, and Daryl remembered the lists. He unfolded them and read them. The normal hygienic necessities:

_Shampoo_

_Soap_

_Toilet Paper_

_Deodorant _

Then there were some more "personal" items:

_Pads_

_Tampons_

_Condoms_

Daryl shook his head.

"_Ya think they'd have whoever they were doin' it with, they have them pick 'em up._" Daryl thought as he ran down the body care aisle. He shoved random shampoos and body washes into the cart, wanting to get this over with.

Nobody specified what kind or size, so he filled the cart with a variety of them. He had finally gotten everything on the list when Glenn yelled from the back of the store.

"Uh. You guys really need to come over here!" his voice was filled with alarm. Daryl deserted his cart, and ran to the back of the store, grabbing his crossbow off his back. He looked around for Glenn, but couldn't see him.

"Dammit. Where the hell are ya?" Daryl yelled. He looked around, but still couldn't see him. Rick came around one of the aisles, his gun raised.

"I'm down here" Glenn's voice came from behind the counter. They walked around to see Glenn kneeling down beside a stiff body.

"Is it dead?" Rick asked, kicking the booted foot. Glenn shook his head.

"Her and no she's not. She looks like she just might have bumped her head and became unconscious. There's a deep gash on her forehead." He explained as he turned the body around.

"Oh damn. It's Michonne." Rick exclaimed.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Daryl asked, looking the woman over.

"You remember those walkers she had with her? I told her that she could stay with us, but she had to let them go. I didn't want them scare anyone. She agreed, and said she'd find us when she was done. I thought maybe she changed her mind. Now I feel terrible" Rick hung his head.

"This wasn't your fault" Glenn patted him on the back.

"Yeah. What we need ta do is get back to get Herschel up here to fix her." Daryl said, heading towards the front.

"Yeah. I'll go. I take back some of the supplies. Kill two birds with one stone." Glenn smiled. Rick shook his head.

"Yeah. Alright. Let me give you some of the guns I bagged up. Figure we can get them out of the way too." Rick said, walking back to his cart.

"Here. Let me help ya get this shit to the truck." Daryl said, walking back to his abandoned cart.

They started loading the supplies into the car, when they saw it. A herd of walkers. Headed for them.

"Shit!" Glenn said, throwing the items into the bed of the truck.

"Glenn you need to go NOW!" Rick yelled, throwing the guns into the passenger seat of the truck.

"What about you two?" Glenn asked, sliding himself into the driver's seat.

"Just go. You gotta let them know what's going on. We'll get back as soon as we can. Now go!" Rick yelled, pushing Daryl into the store.

They watched as Glenn drove away.

"Now what?" Daryl asked, looking at Rick.

"We need to barricade the doors. Or at least try to." Rick said, grabbing things to place in front of the door.

"Automatic door. Not really going to help much" Daryl said, pushing a lawn mower in front of it.

"Not much, but maybe it'll slow them down if they try to come in" Rick offered, shoving a shelf in front of it.

"Well they just saw you, so I think they'll try." Daryl said, backing away from the door. When Rick just stood there, Daryl pulled him to the back of the store.

"C'mon man. Need ya alive" He said, dragging the man down the aisles.

"Sorry. You're right. Got to stay focused." Rick started walking fast to the back of the store. There was a loud crash in the front of the store.

"Well. That didn't take too long." Daryl huffed in frustration. He only had three arrows, and there were at least 50 walkers.

"_How the hell are we gonna get through this?" _ Daryl thought.

"There's still a few guns back there" Rick offered, reading Daryl's thoughts.

"Might need 'em." He replied, whizzing an arrow through a walkers head. Rick rushed into the back and came out with 4 different guns. Two handguns and two shotguns.

"Not really quiet, but pretty sure we might be screwed anyway." Rick handed Daryl one of each. The store started filling with the echoes of moans.

"Need ta split up. Might be easier that way." Daryl suggested, reloading his crossbow.

"Good idea. Might be better to try to keep them away from her." Rick gestured towards Michonne's unconscious body.

"Alright. Yell if ya need help." Daryl said, heading to the front of the store. Right as he rounded the corner of the first aisle, he was greeted with 3 hungry walkers.

"Aint you just some damn sons-of-bitches?" he said raising the handgun to eye level. The first one to notice him snarled and trudged towards him. He pulled the trigger and down it went. That got the attention of the others. They turned and raced towards him. He smiked.

"That's right. Come closer." He said, waiting for them to get within arm's length before he pulled the trigger and took them both down. He looked around before deciding to climb the shelf to overlook the store. He placed his guns on the top shelf and started the climb. The shelves creaked in protest of his weight, but he pulled himself onto the top, grabbed his guns and carefully walked the shelf. He saw a couple more walkers on the opposite side of the aisle where the other three laid dead. He easily took them out and he hopped over to the next aisle. It was clear, so he took a minute to reload his used bullets. A minute was all it took to hear Rick's screams.

"Fuck!" he mumbled, jumping down and running in the direction of the screams. He reached a trapped Rick who was under two walkers, trying to get at his flesh, but Rick struggled, kicking and flailing his arms to knock them away. Daryl aimed his gun, but couldn't get a clear enough shot without hitting Rick in the process. He threw the gun on the floor, grabbed his bow, aimed, and fired. It hit right through the smaller ones head and landed right into Rick's leg. He screamed in pain, but scrambled for his gun, before shooting the other one in the head. It hit the floor with thud and Daryl rushed to Rick.

"Shit. Ya alright. Not bit or nothing?" he questioned, looking the man over. He shook his head.

"Nope. Just an arrow in my thigh." He tried to joke, but a wimper escaped him.

"Shit. Gotta get you moved before any others smell the blood." Daryl said, grabbing the impaled walker. "Ya ready?" he asked the man. He just shook his head and looked away. Daryl grasped the walkers head, and pulled, but only ended up pulling the walker off. Daryl huffed in frustration, worried about their exposure.

"Look. I'm gonna pull ya to the back of the store, and keep ya in there. Alright?" he asked, not waiting for an answer. He grabbed the man's arms and started pulling, stopping only to grab the dropped guns.

"I'll keep cover" Rick offered, pointing his gun into the empty area. Daryl dragged the man to the back of the store and laid him up against the other side of the counter.

"Not sure if that should come out or not. Want me to try getting it out?" Daryl asked the man. His face distraught, but he nodded. Daryl bent down next to the man, and placed a firm hand around the arrow. He took his other hand and grasped the top of it, and looked the man in the eye.

"Alright. 1…2…3!" he pulled it out on three and the man screamed in agony. The area started spewing blood.

"Shit." Daryl panicked, pulling at his shirt. He ripped off a large piece and wrapped it around Rick's leg, trying to bind the wound.

"Gotta try to stop the bleeding. Bind the wound for now, and hopefully Glenn gets back here soon." Daryl tried to reassure the man. He tied a knot as tight as he could, but there was blood still coming out. He cursed and stood up. He noticed the emptiness around them and he was worried.

"_Fresh blood, but no walkers?_" Daryl thought, grabbing the shotgun.

"Im gonna go try to barricade the doors a bit more." Daryl told the man. He noticed the Rick was starting to drift.

"Naw man. Gotta stay awake." Daryl kicked the man's foot and he jerked, fumbling with the gun in his hand. "Need to protect yourself incase anything comes back 'ere while I'm watching the front." He told him walking away. The man just nodded, drifting again.

"Fuck. Where the hell are ya?" he mumbled to himself. He noticed the store deserted and he walked to the front, and noticed the door jammed. He noticed the outside of the building was swarmed with walkers. He was worried. He felt like it was a replay of the night at the barn, but there was no way to escape. He left the front alone and walked back to where he left Rick.

Glenn was gone. Rick was injured. Michonne was passed out. He was the only one left. Stuck in a store, surrounded. He wasn't sure if was going to make it out. He paced back and forth, trying to come up with a plan. The only way out was blocked, and even if it wasn't, they were stuck here without any transportation. Daryl was strong, but he knew he couldn't carry two bodies for that long, while trying to protect them. He beat the counter in frustration.

"C'mon you pussy. You've escaped some pretty shitty situations." He smacked his head, but couldn't think of anything. He looked back at the two bodies. Barely breathing, but still alive. He slid to the ground and sat with gun in lap. He had to protect them.

-

He was jerked awake when he heard loud popping noises coming from the front of the store. He scrambled to his feet, holding the gun to his chest, and ran to the front of the store. A wave of relief washed over him when he seen them. Taking down the walkers. Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, Maggie, Herschel, and Carol. He watched from the front of the store as he watched them take them down 1 by 1. Once the doorway was clear, he pushed the piles in front of the door out of the way and walked out. He took down a couple of walkers straggling at the sides. They took down over 100 walkers before they were all down. Daryl sighed at the finished scene, before walking over to the group on the other side.

"Didn't think ya were coming back." Daryl punched Glenn in the arm. Glenn rubbed the area of contact.

"Thought I'd let you sweat it out for a bit." Glenn laughed. "The truck broke down about 15 minutes out. Had to run up there." He smiled.

"Son. Where is she?" Herschel asked, a little impatient.

"Oh. I'll take you. She's behind the counter." Glenn headed for the store with Herschel behind him.

"Um. Rick's back there too. Impaled by an arrowed walker in the leg. Not doing too well" Daryl added behind them. Herschel nodded and picked up his pace.

"Are you okay?" the light voice rang in his ears as a hand came down on his shoulder. He turned to a smiling face, and Daryl couldn't help but give a small smile.

"Fine. Always am. Told ya I'd be safe." Daryl responded, taking her hand. He looked around, and noticed his bike sitting next to the station wagon.

"Who drove my bike?" he asked, anger bubbling inside him, but she squeezed his hand.

"First thing I did was jump on the bike. Figured I owed you for saving my life on the barn. Not very good at driving though." Carol smirked. Daryl shook his head.

"Ya don't need to worry about me, and I told ya I'd teach you." He said, squeezing her hand.

"You keep saying that, but here you were. I think I'd rather learn how to drive a car anyway." Carol laughed, giving his hand another squeeze.

"This was diff-" Daryl was cut off by Carol's lips. He stood there for a minute, before responding with his lips. He pulled away when he remembered that they weren't alone. He noticed Carol's face was flushed and she had such a grin on her face. Daryl couldn't help but smirk.

"About time!" T-Dog exclaimed, slapping Daryl on his back. Carol looked to the ground embarrassed, but kept Daryl's hand. Daryl noticed Andrea scowling at them, and Daryl's smirk got bigger.

"Uh guys." Glenn came out, looking tortured. "Rick's gone."

**Yeah. I know. Grab your pitchforks and torches. I killed Rick. Daryl and Carol are sorta-together though. That makes up for it? No? Darn. I know Rick couldn't die this fast. He's the main protagonist so he probably wouldn't die. I wouldn't want him dead anyway. I love Andrew Lincoln and his character. I hoped you liked it though. Thanks so much for your kind words. I've said this every time, but I really love reading them. :) **


	10. In Mourning

**I'm glad there was no riot. This is kind of a depressing chapter, but we're getting back on good terms. For now. I hope you enjoy**

Daryl felt like he was wiped out of the world. He fucked up. He knew it. He said he would protect them, but he had died. He had done it again. Said he would protect someone, but he let them die. He let another person down. He didn't only let him down. He let Lori, Carl, and everyone else who counted on Rick down.

Herschel tried to explain to Daryl that it wasn't his fault. That the arrow hit right into the femoral vein and he was bleeding in and out, but the man's words just buzzed in his ears. He was oblivious to the world until Carol started pushing him towards his bike. He noticed everyone gathering into the cars. He shook off Carol and Picked up his pace, but she was right on his heel.

"Are you okay?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm. He turned and noticed the worry in her eyes. His mind was so warped, he had forgotten about earlier. What a mistake he made. He shook his head.

"Fine" he said, regaining a steely composure. She frowned, looking right past it. One of the cars honked for their attention. Carol sighed. Andrea stuck her head out one of the windows.

"You ready to go?" she asked, motioning to the bike. When he just stood there, she looked back at the woman and held up a finger, asking for a minute, before turning back to Daryl, who was still standing there.

"Daryl?" she whispered. When he didn't move or anything she invaded his space, wrapping her arms around him.

"You have to know it's not-" she started, but he cut her off.

"Don't. Please don't." he whispered, untangling her from himself. He straddled the bike, and looked at her. Her face saddened, but she nodded. He watched her get on and felt her snake her arms around his waist. His stomach knotted at her closeness. They hadn't been this close in a while, except for this morning when he backed her against the wall. He shook the thoughts away, and started the bike. It clicked a few times before it roared to life.

"Gotta teach ya how to drive. Don't need ya fuckin' up the rides." he tried to make her smile, but it didn't work. He huffed, and started their way back.

Carol buried her face into his back. She felt his back tense up at the movement, but she ignored it. She was trying to comfort him, but she couldn't help but feel the ridges, even over his shirt. She remembered back on the farm, when she brought him up dinner. His back was covered in a series of scars, but she really paid no mind to them until now, when they were right underneath her fingertips. She mover her hands to his sides, knowing he was uncomfortable. She felt a bit uncomfortable too. They had kissed earlier. Really kissed. She didn't know what to think of it. She just knew she wanted it to happen again. Him on the other hand, she couldn't tell. His wall came right back up when Glenn said that. He did the same thing when they found Sophia. He tried to pull away, but she didn't let him then, and she wouldn't let him now

When she first met Daryl, his cold and gruff demeanor had made her shy away. As time progressed though, she found herself closer to him, more than she imagined. She'd catch herself staring at him, or daydreaming about him. She didn't know why she was, but she was attracted to him. More than she'd ever admit. She was more than grateful for everything he had done for her. He had looked for her little girl more than anyone in the group combined. He had taken an arrow and bullet in the process, and he still went out after that. As much as he tried to keep up his tough exterior, he always seemed to soften around her. She smiled at that thought. Soften wasn't quite the word. Daryl could never be a soft person. His roughness is what makes him who he is. That description would work for now. She hadn't noticed that they had made it back until he was trying to remove himself from her. She removed her hands from him and climbed off, him following behind her. Lori, Beth, and Carl ran outside.

"Oh thank goodness you guys-" Lori cut herself off when she didn't see rick. She looked at everyone, a pleading look on her face. "Please?" she begged, her voice cracking. Carl ran up to his mother's side, tears running down his face. Daryl sighed, and walked up to them.

"I'm s'rry. He was a good man." He said, almost running inside afterwards. Carol watched as Lori looked dumbfounded and distraught. Carl had become hysterical and Andrea was trying to console him. Carol went up to the crumbling woman and took her in her arms. She started to sod uncontrollably as Carol tried to soothe her.

"He can't be gone" she choked out in between sobs. Carol had led her back to her bedroom, sitting her on the bigger one of the beds.

"I'm so sorry Lori." She said, rubbing the woman's back. She couldn't imagine what Lori was thinking or feeling right now.

"Wha-what am I supposed to do? I can't take care of a baby by myself. Hell, Carl hardly listens to me." Her cries had died down and she was now staring at Carol. Carol had lost Sophia, but she knew in the end that she was in a better place. Lori though, could hardly keep control of Carl with Rick, and her trying to bring another child into this world; Carol couldn't begin to think about that.

"You can't think like that. You have all of us here to help-" Lori's shaking of her head cut her off.

"How can I put all of you in danger like that? It wouldn't be right to any of you, especially Carl. I can hardly protect him, and putting a baby in the picture would just put him in another world of danger." Her face was like stone, but her eyes were starting to water again.

"Lori. I hope you aren't saying what I think you are. If Rick was here, you know you wouldn't be feeling this way. He wouldn't want you to be like this now either. He'd want you to press on and be strong for you, Carl, and that baby. Do you understand? You can't think like this!" Carol's voice was demanding, yet concerning. The small woman started with the tears again, but nodded. Carol hugged her before speaking again.

"Good. Now let me go get Carl. I'm sure he would love to be with his mother right now." She said, heading to the door.

"Carol." Lori called. She turned back. "Thank you for being here. For helping me. Thanks." She gave a weak smile. Carol nodded, and walked out of the room. Andrea was waiting in the living room with a sniffling Carl on her side.

"Can I go see my mom now?" he lifted up his head, wiping at his eyes. Carol nodded.

"Of course honey. She's waiting for you." She gave the child a hug, and he ran down the hall. Carol plopped down next to Andrea. She noticed the woman cringe a bit and move away.

"Andrea. I don't know what I did to you, but I apologize." Carol really didn't want to have an all-out fight right now, but she was tired of the tension in the air whenever her and Andrea were in the same room. Andrea stood up and walked across the room, staring out the window.

"You could have told me." She said. Carol was confused. She got up and stood next to the woman.

"Tell you what?" she was trying to look the woman in the eye, but she kept focus outside.

"You and Daryl." Her voice was barely audible. Carol had to think for a few, before remembering last night.

"Oh Andrea."

"Just tell me why? Why did you let me embarrass myself like that? Just to have a laugh?" she finally looked at Carol, like she wanted to skin her right there.

"Andrea. You have to know I didn't know what you were going to do. I wasn't trying to sabotage you or anything. I didn't even have a place to say anything. Me and him…Well I don't know what it is, but if it was, I would have told you. I think you would be one of the first people I would have told." Carol felt like she was on the verge of tears. She sat back down on the couch and put her face in her hands. She heard Andrea sigh heavily and felt the couch sink a little next to her. She jumped a little when she felt Andrea's hand on her back.

"You don't hate me?" Carol asked through her fingers. She heard the woman laugh a little, and she looked up at her, a small smile greeting her.

"No I don't. I am a little mad, but I think that's more at myself. I can't blame you for my stupid ideas. I would have been more reluctant if I knew how you felt, but other than that, I can't really be mad at you." Andrea gave her a smile, and Carol pulled the woman in for a hug. Andrea patted her back, but pulled away after a few seconds.

"That's enough of that now. How's Lori?" she pulled herself away, putting a bit of space between them.

"I think she'll be okay. It's a lot to take in, and she's pregnant on top of that. So her thoughts and everything are probably skyrocketing. I think she'll be alright, but I don't think she should be left alone for a while. She was talking about something" Carol gave her a worrying look.

"Well like you said, it's probably this and hormonal. What did she say?" Andrea asked.

"She was talking about the baby. Like she doesn't want it anymore. I don't think she'll do anything to hurt herself or the baby, but I still think we should keep an eye on her." Carol said. Andrea nodded.

"I'll tell Herschel and the others. He may know how to handle these types of situations." She suggested. Carol nodded, and Andrea started for upstairs before turning back to Carol.

"I feel bad for what's gone down between me and Daryl. Could you let him know that? I don't think he'd want to see me right now." Andrea offered with a wink before disappearing up the stairs. Carol just sat there for a minute.

"_I doubt he even wants to see anyone right now, let alone me." _She told herself.

"_That's right. Why would he wanna see an old hag like you?"_ Ed's voice laughed at her. She shook her head. She wasn't going to let Ed bring her down anymore. She sighed and headed for the stairs.

**Kind of a cliffhanger ending. I felt like it was right to end there. You guys are amazing, and I love you all. Thanks for reading. I hope all of you have a wonderful Father's Day. **


	11. Understanding

**So. I would have put this out yesterday if my internet wasnt down and all that happy junk. I give it to you now though, because I'm being impatient about having it proofread and everything so I hope you'll forgive me for spelling mistakes and things like that. I haven't been feeling too well though. So not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I'm trying to work on it. I hope you enjoy and have a great weekend. TGIF! :)**

She practically ran up the stairs, almost knocking Herschel down at the top.

"Easy there." He said, steadying her.

"I'm sorry." She said distracted.

"It's alright. How is everyone?" he asked. She sat at the top of the steps, Herschel following her lead.

"Andrea is going to fill everyone in, but I think they'll be okay. I think we just need to keep an eye on Lori. She was saying some things that have me a bit worried. I just think it's her emotions toying with her." she explained. Herschel nodded in agreement.

"It's not unusual. It would be more odd if she wasn't in the right state of mind, but I think watching her a little more closely isn't a bad idea." He stood up, holding his hand out for Carol. Carol took his hand and he pulled her up.

"How's Michonne?" she asked, wiping her hands on her pants. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Really banged up, but I think she'll be okay. She lost a bit of blood, so she won't be moving around for a couple days, but she should be alright." He explained.

"That's good. They thought she might have a concussion because of the gash on her head. Did she say why she was there?" Carol asked. He shook his head.

"No. She woke up in the middle of me stitching her up. Beth tried to calm her down, but she was erratic, so I gave her something to help her sleep, and it should take away some pain. All I know is that she had a rough time out there." He guessed. She nodded. "I need to go wash up." He held up his hands, and she noticed the bits of dried blood. She nodded. He headed down the stairs. Carol sighed, remembering why she came up here and headed for the door.

-

He was lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling when he heard a light knock on the door. He didn't bother opening the door, knowing who it was. After a few seconds he heard it squeak a little being opened. She shushed it, before closing it behind her. He didn't even sit up when he felt her sit on the edge of the bed.

"She's alright. Beat up a lot, but she'll be okay." Carol informed him. He didn't move. When didn't respond, she continued.

"Daryl. You can't blame yourself. You tried all you could. He was gone when that arrow hit him." That got his attention, but not the way she wanted.

"You think that makes me feel better?" he shot up, his stare menacing. "That he was dead before he was really dead? Yeah that makes me feel real fuckin' peachy!" he was pacing the floor, trying to control his anger, but she just had to keep pressing issues.

"Daryl." She said placing a hand on his arm to stop him. He hadn't even noticed she'd gotten up. He looked down at her arm and up to her face. He saw the fear and hurt in her eyes, but ignored it. She removed her hand letting it fall to her side.

"Why are ya even 'ere?" he asked, turning away. She walked to the window, staring outside.

"I guess I wanted to see if you were okay. A mistake I guess." She whispered.

"I just keep fuckin' shit up huh?" he sat back on the bed, groaning in his hands. That gotten her attention. She turned to him, a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, taking a spot on the floor in front of him. He shook his head.

"This. E'erything. Somehow I just keep letting people die around me. I try hard and I just fuck it all up!"

he slammed his fist into the mattress. Carol jumped at the sudden outburst of violence. He noticed her reaction. He unclenched his fist and patted the bed beside him. She complied with the motion and sat next to him, crossing her legs on the bed. He followed her lead, turning in her direction, crossing his legs.

"First Merle. Sophia." He noticed her cringe a little at her name, but he continued. "Dale, and now Rick. No matter what I do, people keep dying. I'm useless to this group" He felt like he was going to cry, but he wasn't going to sound like a pussy and look like one.

"I don't believe you. None and I mean NONE of their deaths are your fault. If you think that, then you know that everyone else has a hand in each of their deaths as well. I know you can't believe that your brother is dead. Like you said before "Only Merle can kill Merle." so if you believed that, I doubt you would be here, and you are not useless. How many times do I have to explain that to you? Damn! Sometimes you're more stubborn than Carl." Daryl was stunned by her tone and If it wasn't Carol, Daryl would have gone off on them in a second. He calmed himself though.

"Why do ya even care how I feel? Why don't ya just go take your happy ass back to the kitchen or something and leave me be!" he stormed off into the bathroom and locked the door. She sighed and started to leave, when she thought better of it. She told herself she wasn't going to let him push everyone away, and if that meant being here even if he didn't want her to, then that's what's she was going to do. She closed the door and tiptoed back to the bed, easing herself down. She laid her head against the wall, and closed her eyes.

"_Great. He probably thinks I'm acting more like a mother than a friend." _She thought. She hadn't noticed he came back out, until he slammed the bathroom door. She opened her eyes and noticed his torso was naked. A towel covering his lower half.

"Ya still here? Do you ever give up?" he turned away. She watched the towel drop and immediately covered her eyes. She heard him snort, digging through something.

"I've told you before. I'm not going to let you push away." She said through her hands.

"Yeah, and I told ya to leave me be. Guess neither of us are good listeners. It's safe." He told her. She peeked through her eyes to see him standing before her, a smirk on his face. She dropped her hands, and smiled up at him. When he didn't move to sit down, she stood up.

"All I do is go find food, shop for everyone, and be on beck and call like everyone's bitch." He told her. She shook her head at him.

"No. You provide us with food and things we need. And you are not everyone's bitch. You're more of a helping hand than most of us put together. I'm more useless than any of you. All I do is cook and clean. You're more of an asset than I am." She hung her head.

"Naw. You're more than that. You are the mother, daughter, best friend, and anything else someone needs. You're probably the most important person in this group now." He reassured her. Carol was surprised by his words, but she tried not to let it show.

"_He does think of me as a mother_" she thoughts, sighing. "Lori and Maggie are the same way." the words were shy.

"They could be, but Lori's always up someone's ass and Maggie's always with Glenn. 'Sides none of 'em have as much clue of what they're doing than you." Daryl couldn't believe his words, but his mind kept telling him he had to reassure her.

"Well if I didn't know any better, I'd say Daryl Dixon just paid me a compliment." Carol giggled feeling her cheeks start to heat. "I don't try to be that way, it's just instinct. I don't want to be the nagging mother or anything. Especially to you." She could feel her face burning, but hoped it didn't show. A sad smirk marked his face.

"Well I wouldn't know how that works, but there's no way I see you as my mother." Carol was about to respond when there was a knock on the door. Daryl sighed and walked to it, opening it enough to see that it was Beth with a couple plates of food.

"Here. Thought you might be hungry." She gave him a weak smile, handing him one of the plates. He nodded in appreciation and started to close the door when she stopped him.

"Have you seen Carol? I knocked, but-" before she finished he opened the door wider, revealing Carol standing in the middle of the room. Beth turned pink in the face.

"I-I-I didn't mean to interrupt." She stammered. "Here ya" she started walking in the room, but Daryl kindly grabbed the plate from her hand and said a thanks, before closing the door. "Go" was heard behind the door and Daryl silently chuckled. Carol took her plate and sat against the wall, Daryl sitting in front of her. He dug in, realizing how hungry he was. When he looked up at her, she was pushing the food around her plate.

"Eat. Ya too skinny as it is." He told her. She'd worry about herself after everyone else was taken care of.

"I will. I was just thinking." She told him, placing the plate on the ground. He raised his eyebrow at her but she shook her head.

"I'll be right back" she told him, walking out of the room.

Carol walked down the stairs, and to Lori's room. She knocked lightly on the door, and Carl opened it. He wiped at his nose as though he'd been crying, but his eyes were dry.

"Hey." She smiled. "Where's your momma?" she asked the boy. He opened the door and pointed at the woman sleeping on the bed.

"She said she was tired so she's been sleeping." He told her. She nodded and grabbed his empty plate.

"Are you still hungry?" she asked and he nodded. She motioned for him to follow her, closing the door behind them.

"How about me and you try to find everyone we can and do a little campout huh? Been awhile since we all made a fire and laid under the stars. What do you say?" the boys eyes lit up, and nodded vigorously.

"Good. I know where some hidden marshmallows are. If they're lucky, we'll share." She told the boy, handing him a filled plate. He smiled.

"Thanks Carol." He told her. She smiled, giving him a halfhug.

"Now why don't you go up to and see who you can get to go along with us." She shooed the boy up the stairs. Once the boy was gone, she grabbed a couple beers and headed back upstairs.

"It's going to take a few drinks to talk him into this." She laughed at herself.

**Onto chapter 12. I'm really proud of myself. I know I haven't done too well with details and things like that, but I've done sorta alright staying with my plot. I think at least. :) I still can't thank you guys enough. Seriously your words mean so much to me. Thanks again. :)**


	12. Revelations

**Goodness gracious! I'm so glad I can finally put this up. It would have been up Friday, but there was a nice storm that decided to pass through and knock out all the power. About 100 degree weather and nothing to do? I'm surprised I survived. Though some of you may be going through worse. If any of you live or know anyone who's in Colorado, my heart goes out to you. **

**I hope you enjoy! :)**

"Aw what hell are you trying to drag me into?" He asked, picking up her bottle.

"I'm just trying to cheer Carl up a bit. Just a little campfire or something. A group thing." She said sheepishly. He glared at her, taking a drink.

"And you thought that bribin' me with beer would get me ta go?" he waved the beer in front of him, watching her cheeks flame.

"I thought it might help." She admitted.

"Why do you want me to go anyway?" he asked, sitting down the now empty bottle.

"Not me." She told him, picking up the bottles and plates. "Carl. This is for Carl." She easily explained. "Show up. Don't. We'll have fun without you." She smirked and walked out of the room. He just sat there dumbfounded for a minute before silently laughing

-

Carl was able to talk to everyone into coming out to a small fire. By the time Carol got outside, there was already a fire started, everyone gathered around it, chatting. Carol greeted everyone with a drink, including kid friendly. Carol took a seat next to the boy.

"I didn't even have to really ask. Everyone thought it was cool." He whispered to her.

"Of course. Everyone is always up for a little party. A little happiness is needed right now." She smiled. He nodded.

"Is Daryl coming?" he asked innocently. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I told him, but he's a stubborn person." She told him.

"I'll go ask him!" he said. "I got everyone else to come!" he smiled. She laughed and watched him disappear into the house.

It took all of 15 minutes, but Carl had come back out. A triumphant smile upon his face and a bag in his hands. A slightly scowling Daryl came shuffling behind the boy. Beth had started clapping, and after a few, everyone had joined in.

"I think we would have had a future lawyer on our hands!" Andrea patted the boy on the back. Carl beemed.

"That's way too much school." He said and everyone laughed.

"How'd he get you down here?" T-Dog asked, shifting a bit to make some room in the circle.

"Damn kid wouldn't leave me alone. Told 'em no and he just kept knockin' on the door." Everyone laughed. "Persistent enough, so here I am." He took a beer from the ground and took a drink.

"Well it's nice for you to join us." Herschel smiled.

"Yeah. Thanks Daryl. My dad really liked you. He was glad you were his friend." Carl weakly smiled. Carol noticed his eyes slightly wince, but he nodded in appreciation.

"Did you grab the marshmallows?" Carol asked the boy, changing the subject. The boys smile returned, and he nodded holding up the bag.

"Ohh. We have marshmallows? I love them!" Maggie exclaimed and Glenn started laughing, until she punched him in the arm. "Why don't you help me get some sticks Carl?" she grabbed the boys hand and drug him into the dark.

"So what is up with you two?" Glenn's voice came from her right, as he tried to move closer.

"Who?" she asked coolly. He gave her a look, before slightly jerking his head in Daryl's direction.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We're just friends." She answered.

-

"I'm sorry for how I acted." Andrea said over T-Dog. T-Dog smiled and moved himself so Andrea could take a seat next to Daryl.

"Forget it." He shrugged it off. She did. He wished she would have stopped talking then.

"So what's going on with you guys?" she waved in Carol's direction.

"Aint nothing going on, and if there was, its none of your business blondie." He told her, but she laughed it off.

"We all seen that kiss. Was that nothing?" she asked, staring him down.

-

"I just got caught up in the moment." She told him, but he shook his head.

"If that's the case, there was T-Dog and Herschel." He said. She gave him a glare.

-

"Its just a kiss. Like you don't know anything about that?" he looked at her.

"Thought you wanted to forget it?" she smirked.

-

"I don't know. I mean what do you know with Daryl?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Besides the fact that you guys spend more time together than apart. You guys have kissed, and you're obviously like him. Isn't that enough?" he asked innocently.

Carol was glad when she seen Maggie and Carl coming back. She hoped it would drop the questioning.

-

"You care for her. Its obvious." Andrea told him, but he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He wished she would go away.

"The sooner you admit it to yourself, the sooner that stick comes out of your ass." She got up and sat next Beth and Carl.

"She's right." T-Dog offered, taking his place back. Daryl shook his head, but he couldn't stop himself from looking over at her. She was trying to blow out Carl's now burnt marshmallow. She was laughing and smiling. He forced himself to look away and took a drink.

"_Not tonight." _He told himself. He just wanted to drink some beers and then pass out.

-

"Carol?" the boy poked her arm.

"Yes?" she asked

"I think Daryl wants you. He keeps staring at you." he told him a smile. She looked in Daryl's direction. Her eyes were met with his. She thought he'd turn in embarrassment, but Daryl doesn't get embarrassed. She finally had to break the connection.

"You ready for bed?" she asked him when a loud yawn erupted from the boy.

"Mr. Greene said that he'd camp out with me tonight if that's okay?" he asked her. Carol looked at Herschel and he smiled and nodded.

"Well did you ask your momma?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"She's been asleep." he told her. She pondered for a minute. Maybe Lori shouldn't be alone, but Carl shouldn't be subjected to her crying.

"I don't think she'd mind, but you better behave or Herschel's going to whoop your butt into the next century." she smiled at the man. He gave her a two finger salute.

"Alright! I'll go grab some blankets and pillows!" he yelled as he disappeared.

"What about Lori? Do you really think she should be left alone this long? She's probably really lonely." Beth piped.

"I told her that I'd stay with her if she wanted, but she just wanted to be alone. I think she'll be fine for tonight. What's she going to do? She's been in bed all day, but if you want, I'll stay just in case." Andrea offered.

"I think that might be best dear. She's going through a lot. A traumatic loss, a pregnancy, and the fear of trying to raise two kids by herself. She's probably more depressed now with hormones and death stacking next to each other." Herschel explained. "Beth I want you to stay with Andrea, just in case she needs some help." Maggie stiffened at her father's words, but said nothing.

-

Everyone had started to disperse after Carl came back. He managed to talk Glenn into staying with them. Maggie said she'd stay in to check on Michonne through the night. Glenn had a hurt look on his face, but said nothing. Staying with someone 24/7 could call for a break Carol thought as she threw the empty bottles away in the kitchen. Carol felt like she could use a break. Not that she did much anyways, but with all the stress, it's enough of a toll. Carol tried to stifle a yawn as she made her way up the stairs. She was exhausted. Today was more than hectic for everyone. Some more than others. That thought led her to think about Daryl. They never had really finished their talk from earlier. She thought about knocking on his door, but decided against it. She was tired and he was probably asleep. She sighed and opened her door, only to find a man standing at her window. Daryl. She knew it was him. She didn't bother to say anything. She just sat on the bed and untied her shoes, kicking them towards the door. Along with her socks. He still stood there, silent. She sighed and went into the bathroom and went through a nightly routine. Brush teeth, hair, face, etc. She walked back out, and he was still there.

"Look Daryl. I'm tired, and if you're not going to explain why you're in here, then I'm going to ask you nicely to leave." She told him as she walked to the bed, but he caught her by the wrist. She instinctively tried to pull away, but she stopped herself. She looked up at him, and he had a pained look on his face.

"Daryl are you okay?" she asked him when he just stood there.

"I-I honestly don't know anymore." He whispered. She was shocked. Daryl's never the one to show or tell his feelings. She chalked it up to the beers.

"Daryl. You probably just need to sleep. It's been a long day." She told him, pulling him towards the door. He let her lead him into his room.

"Carol. What happened today.." he drifted off. She gives him a curious look. He's never this talkative.

"Whatever you have to say can wait until tomorrow." She told him, trying to lead him to his bed.

"No. It can't" he said sternly. She gave him an odd look when he continued. "I told myself that I was jus' being a pansy ass." She was a confused, but also humored. Daryl a "pansy ass"? She tried to stifle a giggle, but it slipped out.

"Ah forget it." He said, slumping down onto the bed. Carol was beyond confused. Daryl looked more confused though.

"I'm sorry." She told him, taking a seat next to him. "I've just never heard you say this much, or look this." Carol tried to think of a better word. "Disoriented" she told him. She wanted to chalk it up to the beer, but this had to be more than a bit of liquor. "Finish what you were saying. I won't interrupt." She mimicked zipping her lips shut. He sat there, fidgeting with his hands for a few, but she stayed tightlipped.

"Carol." He struggled for words, but none came. "Ah fuck it." He said, before awkwardly leaning in and touching his lips to Carol's. Carol sat there for just a second before responding. She kissed him back, until a thought clicked in her mind. She pulled herself away. Daryl had a shocked looked on his face.

"You're drunk. I don't think you'd be this way in the right mindset." she told him, pulling herself away.

"I am able to hold my liquor way better than you. Years of practice. And it was only 3 beers." He told her. "Sides' I'm not the one who says things when they're drunk." He poked.

"No you just do things. And what do you mean by that?" she asked. His smirk put her on in the spot.

"And you think I'm drunk. Remember the night everyone was drinking? Drunk Carol paid me a visit. Said some shit." He tried to leave it at that, but she pushed.

"What did I say?" she was curious now. She could hardly remember that night, and she knew she wouldn't be able to remember anything she said.

"Not much. I drive ya crazy." He said. She wasn't accepting that.

"What else?" she pressed on. He shook his head.

"Nothing really. Just some stupid shit." He shrugged. She glared at him.

"If that was the case, then you wouldn't have remembered it." She told him.

"How did we even get on this?" he asked, trying to change the conversation.

"Daryl." she was getting angry. He mumbled something. "Just tell me." She insisted.

"You said ya loved me." He choked out the words. Carol felt herself go white. She was frozen in her place.

"No way. There's no way I said that." She told herself, but her words fell on her deaf ears. "He wouldn't come up with something like that. Why would he?" Carol felt removed from her body, but she regained composure.

"Why couldn't you just tell me that?" she asked, her words didn't sound like hers.

"Cause I knew you'd act like you are now. Even if it was just the drinks." He told her. Carol felt like someone had just opened a door to opportunity.

"And if they weren't?" the words escaped her faster than she wanted. She felt her body flush crimson. She fidgeted with her hands, trying to look everywhere but at him. Her eyes betrayed her and she snuck a peek at him. He was standing there, an unnerving look on his flushed face. She wanted to say something, but no words came to mind.

"You said it wasn't the beer that made you kiss me." She found her voice again. "Now why I can't say the same, I know I can't say it was all because of the alcohol." She was getting brave, and she wanted to use it. "Daryl. Say something. Please?" she took her spot next to him.

"Why?" was all he asked. Carol hadn't quite figured that out on her own. She had a few reasons, but they seemed silly now.

"Do you want me to write you a list?" her tone was a bit harsher than she meant it. "I mean I didn't grill you for a reason when you were stalking in my room, or when you kissed me." She sighed and stood back up. "Let's just forget it." She headed for the door.

"You're right." His words stopped her, but she didn't turn around. He sighed heavily before speaking again.

"I never been in this type of shit before. You scare the shit out of me." His voice was almost faint. She turned around to see Daryl looking at the floor, playing with his hands. Carol couldn't believe this sight. He looked so out of character. It was unreal.

"Why don't we talk about this tomorrow?" Carol offered. She was beyond tired now, and maybe there wouldn't be as much trouble talking.

He nodded, stretching out on his bed. She smiled and headed for the door again.

"Carol?" she turned, keeping her hand on the doorknob.

"G'night." He said, before turning towards the wall. She smiled and headed for her room. She didn't know what to think of all of this. She felt like she just played pinball in her mind and she's not sure exactly where the ball is. Too much has happened and she just couldn't wrap her mind around anything but the 3 kisses they have shared today.

"_Tomorrow_" she told herself, getting into bed.

"_He just wants something to fuck. Why else would he want your mousy ass?" _Ed's voice laughed in her ears. She shook him away. He wasn't going to mess with her anymore. She reveled at the thought of Daryl's lips on hers, falling asleep with a smile on her face.

**I've been told I've done a lot of teasing. I believe I am. I don't mean to. That much. :) I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out for I have been swept in the waves of Grey. My oh my, they are some dangerous waves! If you don't understand, I am talking about 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. I am also a new born "Whovian". If you cannot tell, I am the nerd girl who is always home either reading, writing, or watching tv. The lonely cat lady.**

**If you have nothing to do this upcoming weekend, there's supposed to be a lovely marathon on AMC this Saturday and Sunday. I believe it's 'The Walking Dead'. Great show. Supposed to be some nice little tidbits from this upcoming season. Along with the Black&White premiere of 'Days Gone By'. Just a suggestion if you're in. I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July and that the weather treats you fairly :) **


	13. Quick Question

Okay. I'm sorry this is taking so long but last night I had a "epiphanic" dream about something in the story. Not really epiphanic but I'm at a loss for a better word. So I'm just going to make this simple.

Do you think Rick could still be alive?

You can just tell me yes or no. I just want to know that I wouldn't seem like a wackadoodle if I did try to go down that way..

Hope you guys have a wonderful Friday. And I should be able to start the next chapter tonight or tomorrow. It will be up on **Monday**! :)

**Monday side note: **Thanks to MarionArnold for informing me of my mistake. Apparently I can't delete something and replace it with another thing without it interfering with the review process. I didn't know that. If you are reading this, I'm sorry for this little inconvenience. I hope this fixes things. :)


	14. Now Or Never

**I thank you guys for being so great with my timing and your kind words. I hope you enjoy. :)**

The sky was just starting to streak with pink when Carol finally got up. She'd been lying in bed for a couple hours. Sleep did not greet her well, and when it did, she felt more exhausted. All she's been doing is running, even when they were camped. It seemed like nobody could catch a break, and when they thought they did, it ended up being more trouble. They thought they had found some sort of sanctuary, but they still weren't safe. There's hardly ever a chance to catch your breath for a few seconds without something else coming in the way.

She quietly headed for the front door, but stopped to see Carl curled up on the floor next to Herschel, who was on the couch. Glenn wasn't in the room, and she assumed he went back to his room sometime during the night. She walked outside, feeling the cooling Georgia air surround her. She sat next to the door and stared at the sky as streaks of pink, orange, yellow, and blue started filling the sky. She didn't want to deal with the aftermath of last night. As much as she liked it, she didn't need to be Daryl's drunken mistake. Carol got up and decided to check on Lori and Michonne before heading into the kitchen.

Michonne was still passed out, along with Maggie. Carol lightly knocked on Lori's door before opening it. Beth was slipping on her shoes when Carol poked her head in.

"Sorry. I just wanted to check on her." Carol whispered. Beth nodded, tying one of her laces.

"How was the night?" Carol asked. Andrea started to stir and Beth placed a finger on her lips, motioning for them to leave the room.

"It was alright. She woke up a couple times crying asking if he was really gone." Beth informed her. The girl looked so tired, dark circles under her eyes. Carol nodded, leading the girl to the kitchen.

"If you're still tired, you can go back to bed." Carol told her, going to the refrigerator.

"No. I feel like I haven't been doing as much as I could since the farm." The girl admitted. Carol looked up from the fridge giving Beth a look

"You can't be too hard on yourself about that. You lost a lot that night. Not just people either. You're a strong girl and I'm glad you're still here to help us." She told her, giving the girl a smile. She turned her attention back to the refrigerator, which was pitch black and warm.

"I think the refrigerator got unplugged somehow." Carol said, closing the door again. Beth looked behind but the outlet and plug were still intact.

"No. It's still plugged in. Maybe it's the fridge?" she wondered. Carol went to switch on the light for the kitchen but nothing happened.

"No. Maybe it's the generator. I'll go check." She told her before disappearing outside.

Everything seemed fine when she got to the shack. The generator had nearly a full tank and everything seemed to be in the right place. She couldn't figure it out. She'd tell Herschel or someone about it and maybe they'd figure it out. She was starting to leave, when she noticed the staircase. Everyone must have forgotten about it or just never bothered with it. She started for the steps when a voice came from behind her.

"What the hell do ya think ya doing?" the very familiar voice boomed right behind her, making her jump and clutch her chest. Embarrassed by being caught she turned to face him. Standing there with a scowl, bedhead and in flannel pajama bottoms, he looked like.. she stopped her thoughts right there.

"Well there was no power in the kitchen so I thought I'd check the generator." She answered. "How did you even know I was out here?" she asked.

"Asked Beth. You weren't in your room. Had to see where ya run off to. Of course you'd be the one to try and walk down the staircase of hell." His voice was irritated but not angry.

"I don't need checking up on. I'm not a child. And I wasn't going to go down there." She lied.

"Well I wasn't checking up on ya. And obviously you aren't a child." He told her.

"Well I need to go help Beth with breakfast." She said, making her way out of the shack.

"Are ya trying to avoid me?" he asked, matching his pace with hers. She felt herself go red but continued.

"No. Why would you think that?" she slowed herself.

"Because." He stopped in front of her causing her to stumble into him. He pulled her back and held her in place "You tryin' to run and half the time I can't get rid of ya ass." A silent laugh following his words.

"I told you last night. You were drunk." Carol said, shuffling in her spot.

"God damn woman! Am I not allowed to think for myself? And it would take a hella lot more than a couple beers to get me knocked off my ass." His voice was getting hard. "I meant it last night." He took a step back. "We'll talk later." He said nodding in the direction Beth was walking from.

"Everything alright?" the girl asked. Carol was picking what she could out of the now hotbox.

"Fine. Not sure what's wrong with it. The guys are going to try and work on it I'm guessing." She replied placing wrapped items on the counter.

"I didn't mean that. I mean when I accidentally interrupted you and Daryl." She said.

"You didn't interrupt anything." She told her.

"I know when I've interrupted something. He gave me the same look Maggie does when she's with Glenn." She laughed and Carol joined her.

"Good morning honey. Carol." Herschel greeted them, walking to the table.

"I see that the camping didn't last too long." Carol joked. Herschel chuckled.

"Yeah. About a whole couple hours and all of us were freezing." He told them.

"Not surprising. It's getting colder every day. It's going to be winter soon." Beth inputted.

"Yeah. So hopefully we'll have the power back on before that happens." Carol laughed.

"The power's out? It was on last night when we came back in." Herschel said. Carol shrugged.

"I don't know. It might just be an old generator that's lived its last life. Would you like a leftover sandwich?" she offered.

"I'll take one." Glenn said groggily, walking in the kitchen.

"Good morning." Carol said, handing the boy a sandwich. She looked at Herschel and he nodded.

"So the generator finally quit?" Glenn asked in-between bites. Carol nodded, handing the man his sandwich.

"Thanks." He said.

"Yeah. I think it has at least. It has gas and everything seems to be in the right place." Carol explained.

"Can't really say though. We'll look at it later. First we got some other things to take care of." Daryl intervened, taking the sandwich Carol just finished. She scowled at him but started on another one.

"What things?" Beth asked.

"Stuff in town. There was a gun room back there and we got ta deal with." Daryl drifted off, leaving a tense feeling in the air.

"What about Lori and Carl?" Glenn asked, finishing off his sandwich.

"Figured we'd bury 'em first and then they could come." Daryl suggested.

"I want to go." Carl's voice came from the frame of the kitchen. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Even though this boy is only 12, he's been acting much older lately.

"Son. I don't think that's the best idea." Hershel said.

"But that's my dad. I want to help." He told them.

"You can help by staying here with your mother. She probably needs you with her." Carol explained. A small look of hurt flickered on his face but he nodded.

"Good. Now here's breakfast." She handed the boy one of the sandwiches. "If today goes well, maybe Herschel will let you help him with trying to fix the generator." She offered. He gave a small smile and nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich.

-

Once everyone else got up, Carol was able to get rid of most of the food in the fridge. She and Andrea had to practically feed Lori. Michonne ate and fell right back asleep. Herschel said she would be back up and moving by the end of the day. Lori on the other hand, is a wait-and-see. Daryl and Glenn decided they would go into town alone. Maggie and Glenn were saying goodbye to each other when Carol was ushering Carl to grab his schoolbooks to help him with his work. He gave a look, but did as he was told. Carol was trying to keep herself out of the room so the two could have a minute alone. She busied herself cleaning up in the kitchen, and didn't notice when Daryl came in.

"We're about ta leave." He said, causing Carol to jump again.

"That's the second time you've scared me today. Why do you have to act like a cat walking around?" she asked. He ignored the last part.

"Didn't me to scare ya. I just wanted to tell you we were leaving." He repeated. She stopped and faced him.

"Be careful." Her words were sincere.

"Always am." He said.

"Daryl." She took a couple steps forward "Can we talk first?" she asked. He looked her over for a second before nodding.

"I'll be right back. Meet ya upstairs?" he asked. She nodded and he left. She didn't want to have this talk right now, but it was now or never. She headed upstairs, unsure of which room to enter. She decided on his room. A couple minutes later he entered the room.

"Gotta leave in 15 minutes. What do ya want to talk about?" he asked, taking a seat on the desk.

"I'm not sure. What did you want to talk about?" she didn't really know what to say.

"Last night. You keep sayin' it was a mistake. Do ya think that?" he asked. It was so unlike his character. He's normally the one who's hard and cold and now they were having an intimate talk about them.

"No. I just thought you might regret it." She told him.

"Well I can think for myself. I told ya. It'd take more than a couple beers to knock me off my ass. 'Sides I woulda done it without the beers." He smirked, but got serious quickly. "Look. I ain't too good with this kind of shit. I don't really know what to say." He was looking down, fidgeting with his hands, embarrassed. Carol couldn't help but smile.

"Look. I like you. More than I probably should. And I know you do. I don't know why, but why don't we just leave it at that?" she offered.

"Carol. Ya put yourself down too much." He slid off the desk, walking to her.

"And you don't?" she retorted.

"Ain't nothing that's not true." He replied. She shook her head, stepping back.

"You don't get to do that. You don't get to tell me that when you do the same thing."

"You don't know what ya talking about." He explained.

"And neither do you. We both have our skeletons. That doesn't mean anything now." She reassured him.

"Can we stop talking about this?" he asked, taking 2 long strides till he was right in front on Carol.

"What did you want to talk about?" she reiterated. He shook his head.

"Then wha-" her words were cut off by his mouth. His mouth moved against hers. Less awkward than last night. Carol sighed against him, making him pull her closer. His mouth was a contradiction of hard and soft. His hands felt rough, but were soft against her back. He smelled of nature and man. Carol mind was so clouded she didn't register the knock at the door until Daryl pulled away. He muttered a small curse under his breath. She couldn't help but smile. He broke away from her hold and opened the door. It was obviously Glenn. They talked for a second before he closed the door. He hurried to grab his crossbow and knife before turning to carol, who was still standing in the place he left her, her face flushed.

"Gotta go" he smirked. She shook her head to clear the clouds.

"Be careful." She squeaked. His smirk got bigger.

"Always am." He said, disappearing out of the room.

"I should probably go find Carl." She told herself, trying to regain composure.

"_It's going to be a long day." _She thought.

**Good ending? I hope so. I would have written more but I thought that was an appropriate stopping point. It's all happy sunshine and rainbows…For now ;)**

**I think I've watched too much Doctor Who now. Everything I read or write now, I think of it in an English accent. This is why my social circle is so small. **

**I thank you all for your opinions on Rick and his death. I agree with most of you about how he's escaped death time and time again. So I think he might be able to escape this one…Or maybe he's just walking around the world now dead. Who know? *Insert maniacal laugh here*..I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from. Already working on the next chapter. Should be out a.s.a.p. **


	15. Bad News

Glenn was awkwardly quiet the whole trip but Daryl chalked it up to the mission at hand. They made quick work of clearing the lot. It was when they started digging that the boy spilled.

"Maggie's pregnant." The boy choked. Daryl stopped and looked at the man who now looked like a scared little boy and much more pale.

"No shit?" Daryl's voice surprised himself. Glenn nodded. "Congrats man." He walked over to him and patted him on the back.

"No. This can't happen. We already have one baby coming. We can't have two screaming babies with us." He was becoming hysterical and Daryl eased him on the ground.

"Like it or not, it's gonna happen." He informed the boy, but he kept shaking his head in denial.

"I messed up again. I let Maggie down again." He said. Daryl didn't want to really deal with anymore drama right now, but apparently he had to be the voice of reason now.

"Ya messed up cause you knocked up the farmer's daughter. He ain't going to be too happy 'bout that, but there's nothing you can do now." He told him, picking him up off the ground. "Now come on. Let's finish what we need to do." Daryl huffed, picking his shovel back up. Glenn pushed his hair back and nodded. They started up again, in silence. They were finishing up when Glenn broke the silence again.

"Sorry." Glenn said, throwing dirt to his right. Daryl gave him a look, but continued working.

"For?" he asked.

"If I just made you two come with me, he'd still be alive." Glenn was staring down, just looking into the hole.

"Can't blame yourself. We told ya to go. Not your fault anyway." He threw his shovel to the side, finished with it.

"I just keep thinking _what if? _I just- I just don't know."

"Ya can't think that way. 'Sides if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Daryl told him. Glenn gave him an odd look.

"What do you mean?" he asked him.

"It was my shot that hit him. My arrow, my fault." He said it almost nonchalantly, with an unknown undertone.

"That was just a freak accident. You can't blame yourself for any of it. You di-" Daryl's head shaking cut him off.

"Let's get this done. T-Dog will be bringing Lori and Carl here soon." Daryl said, kicking the ground.

-

Carol spent about half an hour trying to get Carl to finish 20 equations before having to take a break.

"It's okay sweetie. We'll resume your schoolwork after the funeral." She gave him a small smile. "Now I'm going to go check your momma before you leave. Why don't you go and find Theodore. Tell him I'll have your mom out in about 10 minutes." She smiled before walking away.

Andrea had managed to get Lori dressed, even with no effort on the practically-comatose woman. Carol knocked on the door before walking in.

"Are you ready?" she asked, sitting across from her. She just sat there, staring at the ground.

"Come on. You need to do this for you and your son." She edged. For the first time in almost 24 hours, the woman voluntarily moved, and gave Carol a cold, hard stare.

"Why? What's it going to do? Nothing. Not a damn thing!" she was on her feet, her face a deep, angry red.

"You can't believe that. You know that's not true." She told her.

"How would you know? You didn't go to your daughter's funeral, and you seem to be just fine." Lori's harsh words bit right into Carol's chest.

"That was a mistake. And I didn't have anyone else counting on me. You have Carl. You have another baby who's going to look to you for memories of their father. You have to be strong for both your children." She told her.

"I can't." Lori said, her words cracking. Before Carol could say anything else, Carl came into the room.

"Are you ready to go mom?" the boy asked, his words sad, but he held a hard composure. Lori looked from her son to Carol, who nodded at her, before looking back to her son.

"Yes." She gave her son a small smile, pulling him with her out the door, leaving Carol alone. She tried not to think of what Lori had said to her, but she couldn't stop the tears. For the second time, she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her daughter. Carol's cries were cut off by yelling coming from upstairs.

-

"Wha' do ya mean he's not there!" Daryl was going ballistic. This should have been an easy thing. Dig a hole, put 'em in and cover the hole. Then they could say their goodbyes. Instead it's been a confessional and a fuckup. His rambling thoughts were interrupted by a stammering Glenn.

"I-I-I don't know. No one thought about it." Glenn was quiet for a few before gasping in realization. "Damn! Lori and Carl are going to be here any minute!" he exasperated, pacing back and forth. "What are we going to do?" he asked Daryl, who was a loss himself. Nobody can catch a break.

"We act like we did it. Ain't no reason to drag her and the kid into a bigger hole." Was all that Daryl came up with. Wiping his face, Glenn nodded in agreement.

"What happens if we run into the walking Rick though?" he asked, picking up his shovel to repack the dirt.

"Take care of 'em like any other walker. Just try ta be more discreet." Daryl shrugged. He wasn't the plan man, and he was just pullin' shit from his ass, hoping it would work.

It took them about 15 minutes to refill the hole. The sound of a engine came screeching behind Daryl as he loaded the left supplies into the bed of the truck. Glenn had gone in to grab something to mark "Rick's" grave. He was just placing a small painting at the head of the grave. Carl walked up to the grave and sat in front of it. Lori made no signs of leaving the car until T-Dog opened her door, pulled her out, and helped her to her son. She eased herself next to her son, who held onto her side. T-Dog left them and walked to where Glenn and Daryl were at the truck. Glenn still had a pained look on his face like he was just punched in the gut.

"Everything alright?" he asked him. Glenn looked at Daryl who rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Rick's not in there." He whispered. T-Dog gave him an look like he's gone mad or something. Glenn explained.

"We came and dug the hole. When we went for the body, it wasn't there." He finished. T-Dog had a shocked look on his face.

"Then who's in there?" he motioned behind him with his head.

"About 5 feet of dirt and bugs." Daryl shrugged, closing the back of the truck with force.

"And you're not going to tell them?" he asked, concern filling his voice. Daryl and Glenn both gave him an "_Are you stupid?_" look. T-Dog nodded.

"Right. Sorry. What do we do though?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just act as though he is actually in there." Glenn said. They all turned to see Carl helping his mom up off the ground.

"Well I think we got enough supplies now. I even grabbed a couple things for the generator to fix it. Hopefully we can get it fixed." Glenn said, settling into the passenger seat.

"Let's just get back first." Daryl suggested, sliding into the driver's side. Once everyone got back into their cars, they headed out.

-

"What's goi-" she cut herself off with the sight in front of her. A scared looking Michonne was looming over a calm Herschel on the floor, her katana held high in the air.

"Michonne." She calmly said, closing the door behind her. "Michonne. It's alright." She said, stepping over herschel's body. "Put the sword down and tell me whats wrong." She told her, wavering her hand down.

"This man trying to stab with some needle. Told him no, but he wouldn't listen." She said, placing her sword on the bed. Carol nodded and helped the man off the ground.

"I was just trying to give her a shot to calm her down. She woke up bewildered. Figured it might help, until she attacked me." He said, straightening himself.

"Michonne. This is Herschel. He's been taking care of your injuries. We found you in a store. You had a big gash on your forehead. Lost a lot of blood." She informed the woman. She nodded as if she understood.

"I was coming back. Got attacked by some men. Kidnapped me. Had to escape. Running a lot. I knocked my head on something. Hiding in the store was the last thing I remembered." She explained, shaking as she did.

"It's okay sweetie. You're safe. Nothing too scary here except for the doctor with the needles." She tried to lighten the mood, which seemed to help.

"Now. Do you mind if I give you this shot? It'll calm you down." Herschel told her. She glared at him, but held her arm out. It only took a few minutes for the effects to kick in, and when it did, she laid back in bed.

"Where am I?" she asked sleepily. Carol had to think for a minute before replying.

"I think it's called Woodbury. Some place about 20 minutes from the town." She stopped talking when she seen the horrific look on the woman's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, slightly panicked.

"Woodbury." She echoed Carol; her voice was thick with horror and exhaustion, before passing out. Carol, confused, left the room, wondering what she said.

**About to hit chapter 15. Wow. I'm shocked I've actually stuck to this. Not too great, but I have. So..Rick a walker or a man who's been picked up by some unkind people? Oh yeah…Maggie's pregnant. Who woulda guessed? And guess who's coming into the picture? I really don't like him, but he's a part of the story nonetheless. I love David Morrissey though, so I'm a bit more lenient toward the character. **


	16. One Last Kiss

**I forgot to mention this last chapter, but I no longer have a beta. If you haven't already noticed like 5 chapters ago. She kinda just disappeared off the face of the earth or was just ignoring me. I don't know, but I don't think I've done a terrible job. I hope not. Enjoy :)**

"The kid's a fast learner, but I'm afraid the generators at a loss." Herschel informed them, wiping his hands in a rag.

"Did you find out what's wrong with it?" Carol asked. Herschel shook his head.

"That's just it. It looks perfectly fine, but it's just not running. Guess it's time to retreat to old ways." Herschel smiled.

"That also means we're back to nightly watches." Glenn pointed out. Everyone seemed to sigh in frustration together. They had gotten too attached to their easy lifestyle way too quickly.

"At least we still have shelter." Beth chimed. She was right. Winter was coming, slowly, but surely.

Carol sat quietly in the corner, while everyone started figuring out the watch schedules. She just couldn't pay attention. She kept imaging Michonne's horror stricken face.

"…Are you alright with that?" Glenn asked, and it sounded like it wasn't the first time. Carol looked around and everyone was staring at her, waiting for her. Smiling, she nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry." She said, catching Daryl's eye, who had a grimaced look on his face.

"Well I guess we're done now, unless Daryl has anything he wants to add?" Herschel asked. Shaking his head, Daryl stood up and left.

"Well, I'm going to double check to see if there isn't anything I can do." Herschel said.

"Can I help again?" Carl asked, excited.

"I think you need to finish your schoolwork, doesn't he Carol?" Herschel asked. "Carol?"

'Huh? Oh yeah. No escaping your math." She smiled. Herschel studied her for a few.

"Beth. Why don't you help Carl with his studies? Be good work for you too." He told her. She nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room.

"Carol, are you alright?" he asked, sitting next to her. Carol looked around the table, making sure they were paying attention.

"I don't think this place is safe." She said, her face at the floor.

"What do you mean?" Glenn voice filled with worry.

"It's something Michonne said. It's just off-putting. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being paranoid." She confessed. Maybe she was just overthinking it.

"Well, what exactly did she say?" Maggie asked.

"Nothing really. She just repeated something I said. It was the way she said it. I think she would have said more if she didn't fall asleep." She told them.

"What was it?" Herschel pressed.

"This places name…Woodbury. She told me about how she was coming back to meet us and she was attacked by some men. They kidnapped her, but she escaped. She said she hit her head on something, probably a rock or something. That's when she made it to the store, and then she passed out." She told them.

"Oh. The poor girl." Maggie said

"She's strong." Andrea told them.

"So do you think we should tell Daryl about this?" Glenn asked.

"No. I don't think so. Let's wait for Michonne to wake up again and ask her about it. This could have been miles away." Herschel offered.

"But Carol said she said Woodbury. And it didn't sound good." Maggie's voice was nervous. Glenn rubbed her back.

"Maybe he's right. Maybe she misheard the word. She did have a concussion." Glenn backed.

"Yeah. No need to worry him more than he already is." T-Dog interjected.

"Why's he worried?" Lori asked, making everyone stare at her, it being the first volunteered words.

"Well. He's kinda stepping into someone else's shoes. And we all know he doesn't like being in the spotlight." Herschel told her. Her face made the "oh" look, and she said nothing else.

"Well. I'm going to get a nap in before my shift." Glenn told them, leaving.

"I'm going too." Maggie said, rushing behind Glenn.

"Well then, I guess I'll go too." Herschel stood and left.

"I'm going to go check on Michonne. Do you guys need anything?" Andrea asked. Lori and Carol shook their heads.

"I'm going to take Glenn's idea." T-Dog said.

"Lori. Are you okay? Do you need anything?" carol asked once everyone had left.

"No. I'm fine. I think I'm going to clean up and get dinner prepped." She told her.

"You don't need to. You can-" Lori cut her off

"No. I need to keep going. Keep myself busy." She said. Carol nodded.

"Well, I got to go do something, but then I'll come down and help." Carol offered. Lori shook her head.

"Carol, I'm sorry. About what I said earlier. I honestly didn't mean it." Lori's voice was small, but sincere. Carol gave her a half-hearted hug.

"I know." She told her.

-

Daryl was trying to nap before his watch. He had second watch, after T-Dog and Glenn. He tried to sleep, but instead, he was staring at the ceiling, unable to shut his thoughts off.

In less than 48 hours, things had changed dramatically. He was now in a position of power, unsure of what to even do. The worrying of trying to protect the group and Carol. Carol. He didn't even know where to begin on that subject.

He's got to know her more than anyone else in this group, and he never so close to someone. Never liked the intrusion in his life. She didn't try to intrude though. She was kind of there. He could be the biggest asshole to her, and she'd forgive them just like that. And then there was them. He didn't know what they were. Were they even anything? God he felt like a teenage girl. Thankfully his thoughts were ended with a light knock on the door, poking her head in.

"I didn't wake you did I?" She asked, playing with the knob.

"I wasn't sleepin'. You can come in." he sat up, making room so she could sit.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright." She sat next to him, playing with hands and biting her lip.

"Fine." He said. There was an awkward silence in the room for a while.

"I'm sorry abou-" Carol started.

"I don't know how t-" Daryl cut himself off.

She started laughing and he couldn't help but to laugh a little too.

"You talk." He told her.

Shaking her head, she knew he'd put up the fight on his side. "You go first."

"I ain't the greatest when it comes to feelings and shit. Or anything else really." He didn't know where the hell he was going with this, but the small smile on Carol's face made him continue.

"I'm not the boyfriend type or nothin'. Hell I ain't ever been in a relationship. Too busy trying to keep my brother from getting killed. God. I sound like such a bitch right now." He groaned in frustration.

"Carol. When we were stuck in the store, two things went through my mind. Getting everyone out." He paused, unsure. "And you." He breathed. "For a moment I just thought. If I didn't make it back, I would 'ave lied to you again. You get stuck in my head like some shit-pop music. No matter what. Not that you're shit-pop." He defended.

"Daryl. You're not a man of words. I know that. I'm not looking for a boyfriend. We're not teenagers. Ed was really the only relationship I had, and that was forced as it was. I'm not looking to you for some cushion after the fall, though that's a plus. I'm not looking to repay the debt of looking for my daughter. That's something I'll never be able to repay." He tried to interrupt her, but she continued. "You risked your life, **twice**, to go out there, so yes, that's a debt, even if you don't think so. I felt this way before all of that. I don't want forever. I already had that and it wasn't the greatest. This might be too much to ask, but I want you. No lifetime, no promises. Just you."

"I can't say yeah. Dixons aren't too great at stickin' 'round. Kinda family trait." He admitted.

"You could have left a long time ago. Taken that bike and went off to find your brother, but you didn't. I don't see you leaving anytime soon." She smiled.

"Don't hold ya breath on that." He retorted.

"I don't hold my breath on anything anymore."

"So, are we together or something?" he asked.

"We don't need to put a label on it, not if you don't want to." She told him.

"And tellin' people?" he asked.

"Not that people don't already know anything." She smiled. "But I guess not." She told him.

"And ya aint gonna try to domesticate me? I don't do picnic or hand holdin, or any pda crap." He stated. Giggling, she nodded.

"Just because you have a wall up doesn't mean that you aren't a bit predictable." She laughed. "Just a day-by-day thing. Not a lock-and-key thing." She told him.

"Aint nothing wrong with lock-and-key thing." He said.

" Carol. I like ya." He admitted.

"I know. Now I got to go help Lori. I'll talk to you later." She told him, standing up.

Following her lead, he stood with her.

"You need to sleep. You got watch tonight right?" she asked him. He nodded.

"Then go to sleep. We'll talk later." She smiled.

"Tired of talking." He whispered, grabbing her hand. Her face turned a shade of pink.

Holding her close, he took her face into his hands, holding her still. Ever so slowly, he placed his lips on hers. This kiss was different from the ones they had shared. It was slow, and sweet. Like a first kiss. After a few seconds, he pulled away. Carol's eyes still closed, she heard him move.

"Carol…?" he asked when she stood there. "Lori.." he stretched out the name. Her mind clearing of clouds, she shook her head.

"Yeah Lori. I need to go help her." She said lazily.

He laughed making her playfully slap his arm.

"I'll see you later." She headed to the door.

"Goodnight Carol." He told her.

-

Daryl was able to get in a few hours of sleep before T-Dog woke him for his shift. He was sharing his watch with Herschel. He didn't like it, but it was either Farmer Brown or Annie Oakley, and ignoring him was easier than ignoring her. He didn't realize how tired he had been until he was up at 1am; at least he guessed it was one. About halfway through their watch and there was no signs of any movement. He had decided he'd go hunting when morning broke. Now that they were living off the land again, he'd have to go hunting more frequently, not that he minded. He enjoyed his time alone in the woods. He was walking around the front of the building, when he noticed Herschel motioning for him. Confused, he headed his way.

"What?" he asked slightly irritated.

"Might be old age, but I think I seen something move by the shed."

"Are ya sure? Could 'ave been an animal." He offered.

"Sure. Might just be tired eyes playing tricks on me."

"Well, I'll go check it out. You stay here. You think there's any trouble, come after me." He told him.

"Do you want me to go wake up the other men?" he asked.

"Nah." Daryl shook his head. "Don't need ta wake them up to look for a ghost." He told him

"Alright."

Daryl checked the shed, but didn't find anything of interest. Just that the shed door was open slightly, but he remembered Herschel was in there earlier. He checked around the building, but didn't spot anything.

"Didn't see anything." He told the old man.

"Sorry son. Must be old age." He said apologetically.

"Don't worry 'bout it." He told him. "I think our shift's about over anyway. Why don't ya head on in? I'll do another look around and then wake up the next group." He offered.

Clapping him on the back, he nodded. "Thanks son. And just yell if you see anything." Herschel told him, heading in.

Daryl did a couple more laps around the building, before deciding to go inside. He headed for the kitchen, grabbing his plate from dinner. He thought he seen something move behind him in the living room, but holding his crossbow to the darkness, he blamed it on his tiredness. Grabbing his plate, he headed for the stairs.

A smash to the back of the head caused him to fall to the floor, knocking his head on shattered glass. He felt the stickiness of blood on the back of his neck. He tried to speak, but couldn't manage any words to form.

"What do we do now?" a voice rose from the darkness. Daryl couldn't lift his head from the floor, but he tried to listen intently.

"Grab them all. Boss wants to meet the guests." Another voice said.

"What about the women? Same as usual?" the first voice asked. Daryl could practically hear the eyeroll from the second man.

"How many times do you need to be told? Yes! Fuckin' idiot!" he yelled. Daryl tried to reach his crossbow, but a foot on his hand made him stop.

"God that kid can't do shit right for anything. Sorry buddy." The first man told him. And then blackness.

**There's just no happiness in the end is there? They get together and then this shit happens. I'm evil. Not really, but yeah. Hope you enjoyed! :)**


	17. Unwelcomed Guests

**Two chapters in one week? I'm surprised myself, but I couldn't stop writing yesterday. Hope you enjoy.**

Carol awoke to a throbbing pain all over and the bitter taste of blood in her mouth. Against her body's will, she sat up, trying to think, her mind protesting.

"Oh thank god you're alive!" a voice croaked from behind her. Looking around, she didn't recognize the place. She could tell she was underground though, having a harder time breathing than she expected.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Not sure." She recognized the voice as Andrea's. "How are you?" her voice was filled with concern.

"Hurt all over. I taste blood, but I'm alive, so I can't really complain." She smiled in the emptiness.

"I wouldn't count on that yet. They got everyone. I don't know where the guys are, but Michonne, Lori, and Carl are here." Andrea informed her.

"What about Beth and Maggie?" Carol's voice cracked.

"A couple men came in and grabbed them up a couple hours ago. I don't know anything but apparently a man they call 'The Govenor' runs things." She told her.

"What do they want with us?" she asked.

"I don't know. They aren't saying much." Andrea said, wincing in pain

"Are you alright?" Carol asked, alarmed.

"Yeah. Tried to fight them last night, and I guess they didn't like that." Andrea laughed.

"I can't remember anything past going to bed." Carol told her.

"Be glad. I've heard screaming from next door. I think it's the guys or else they have more people prisoned here." She grimaced. Carol winced at the thought of more people being held here. The group was enough. Who was this Governor anyway?

Carol tried to stand, her whole body aching in protest.

"Are the others okay?" Carol asked, stretching as best she could. She heard the sound of metal rattling.

"Chained me up. Thought I might fight again. Right about that. Haven't been able to move. I think Lori's by me. Can't really tell though.

Carol felt her way towards Andrea. In the dimmest light she could see a gash on her cheek and some already-forming bruises all over her exposed skin. If she looked like this, Carol couldn't imagine how she looked.

"Not too bad. The bruising just makes it look worse." Andrea said. "Need to check on the others though." She told her.

Moving through the dark, Carol found her way to Lori.

"Lori." She shook the unconscious woman.

"It hurts." She whimpered.

"It's okay. How are you feeling? Are you and the baby okay?" Carol asked. She heard the woman shuffle a bit, before groaning in pain.

"I'm not sure. I don't feel any bleeding or anything. Whe-where's Carl?" she cried.

"Somewhere in here." Andrea answered.

"What happened?" the woman asked. Andrea filled her in as Carol found her way to Carl and Michonne. Michonne was awake, but her mouth was swollen where she couldn't speak. From what Carol could see, Carl only had a few bruises and cuts on him. Nothing too serious.

"What do we do?" Carl whined.

"Nothing. We can't do anything if we're stuck in here. We'll get out though." Carol assured him.

"How though? We have no weapons and no idea where we are." Andrea exclaimed.

"I have this." Carl whispered. Carol seen the glint of metal in the darkness.

"Carl, where did you get that?" his mother badgered.

"Andrea gave it to me." He confessed.

"To give back to Daryl, like a week ago! If we weren't in this mess, I'd kick the shit out of you little kid." Andrea exclaimed.

"Shh!" Carol said. "Yes it was stupid for him to keep it, but it might be able to help. What do we do now though?" she asked, taking the knife from Carl's possession.

"Wait until the guards come down again, attack, and then we go from there." Andrea offered.

"But who's going to do it?" she wondered.

"You have to. Carl's too small, Michonne can hardly move, Lori's pregnant, and I'm-"she went on to rattle her chains.

"But I can't I've nev-" she was cut off by the sound of a door creaking open. Bright light flooding the room, she seen Andrea mouth something but before she could do anything, a large man came in.

"Ah. Yer awake. C'mon get up!" the man yelled. Carol slipped the knife into her pants, standing up. The man grabbed her arm, pulling her hard with him. She looked back, praying it wasn't the last time she'd see them.

-

Daryl woke up shortly after being harshly tossed into a room. The room was bright; a TV sat in one corner, couches lining the wall opposite of it. A fireplace built into the front wall. The room looked familiar but the throbbing in Daryl's head stopped him from placing where. He stood, the room before him turning into a tornado of blurriness, causing him to crash back on the couch.

"Ah. Our guest has awoken." A voice rose from the back of the room. Managing another try, Daryl stood up, coming face to face with the voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl spat, catching himself on the couch.

"Now now. Is that any way to speak to your beloved host? I am The Governor, and you are the ever so gruff Daryl Dixon."

"How the hell d-"

"Ways and means. I'm The Governor. If I need to find out something, I simply do research. I know your name as much as I know you are traveling with 10 others. My bad, nine. Lost a man?" the man smiled.

"He died." Daryl corrected.

"Ah." He snickered. "Well you still have nine able bodies, four which are quite lovely. I know you have five women, but pregnancy turns me off sadly. Maybe once she's carried to term?" the man gave a hearty chuckle.

"You are one sick sonabitch. Touch any one of 'em and I'll kill ya." Daryl yelled. He looked around the room, searching for his crossbow, eyeing it by a closed door.

"No need for threats now. For you sir, had stepped into my territory, and anything in my territory is mine." He explained coolly.

"What the hell are you talkin' 'bout?" Daryl's voice was rough. His mind was going 100 miles an hour. Who the hell was this guy? Why did he kidnap him? Why did he talk like he was giving some kind of speech? And where the hell we're his friends?

"I see that mind moving in there. I understand. I don't think capturing you and your friends was the best of ideas, but I seen your group, and you were getting too comfortable on my land. The town of Woodbury? It belongs to me. And you, well you were unwelcomed guests."

-

The burly man had pulled her up a pair of stairs that reminded her of the ones in the shed.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, causing the guard to backhand her.

"Just shut it and keep walking." He told her.

"Tell me where we're going." She said, continuing the trudge.

"The Governor wants to see you." He whispered to her.

"The governor? What for?" she asked. He stopped her and stared at her.

"Just do what he says." He told her gravely.

"What does tha-" he cut her off, pulling her forward.

"C'mon. I don't need him goin' off on me." He told her.

So she now sat in a bedroom, waiting for The Governor. She sat in a chair staring at the wall, until she heard a whimpering coming from the opposite side of the room. Looking around, she pulled out the knife.

Slowly walking over, she made her way to a door. Figuring it led to a closet, she opened the door harshly, finding a lift, like the old fashion hotel lifts. She closed the door, listening harder. The whimpering was now more of a cry, a familiar cry.

"Beth?" she called out. The crying got louder at the name.

"Beth, where are you?" Carol asked the emptiness. She followed the cry to the bed. She found Beth on the floor, tied up and crying.

"Oh my god Beth!" she cried. She pulled the girl onto the bed, untying her hands and removing the tape from her mouth.

"What happened?" she asked, hugging the girl. Shaking her head, Beth cried into Carol's shoulder.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay, but you need to tell me what happened."

Beth tried to hold back the tears, but they couldn't stop.

"He-he-he. Oh Carol." The girl cried harder.

"Alright. Shh. It'll be okay. I'll get us out." She reassured the girl.

"How?" she choked out.

"I have a plan, but you have to trust me. Now do you know where Maggie is?" Carol asked. Beth pointed to the wall behind them.

"Next door?" she asked. Beth nodded.

"Okay. I have an idea, but you need to trust me and be quiet. Can you do that?" Carol's voice was low and rash. Beth nodded, wiping at her face.

"Good."

-

"Alright. So ya run this place, but how did we come into your "territory" as you put it? We ain't been but two places. Town seems awful small to need a Governor. Hell we don't even stay in the town!" Daryl exasperated.

"We hold base in the prison. Go to town when we need supplies, or other things." The Governor drifted off.

"How the hell. Wha' do ya mean the prison? We been stayin' in there almost two weeks." Daryl told him, cursing himself as he did.

"Exactly. But, you've been staying off in one of the staffing buildings on another part of the prison. Never went searching or anything, or we would have met sooner." He smiled. "But no matter. Good things come to those who wait, right?" continuing his smile.

"Wha' the hell do ya want? Want us to leave? Fine." Daryl headed for the door.

"No. If that was the case, do you think I would have went through all of this just to tell you to leave? I don't think so. No. I was looking for more of a…A teamup?" he nodded at his own words. Daryl grabbed his crossbow, pointing it at the strange man.

"Sorry. Don't play too well with others." Daryl smirked.

"Oh. Too bad." The man smiled, snapping his fingers. Before Daryl could blink, a pair of arms wrapped his behind his back.

"Now. I've got some _business _to attend to. While I'm gone, I'll hope you reconsider. Take him to the waiting room." He told the man. Daryl felt his feet dragging on the floor.

"Oh. I'll tell Carol you said hello." He smiled before disappearing. Daryl yelled a string of curses in The Governor's path.

"Governor has a friend he'd like you to meet." The goon told him. Daryl was still sputtering words at the long-gone Governor. The man threw him into a room, much like the one Daryl was just in, but someone else was in there.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked the person's back.

"Well I'll be." The voice rose. Daryl's eyes went wide in shock. No. It couldn't be.

"If it ain't little old Darylina." The body spun around. Yepp. Sure enough.

"Merle."

**I'm so happy right now. I didn't expect this chapter to go this way. I like it though. I liked Merle's character. Yeah he was a total dickwad, but he brought conflict and stuff to the table. We didn't really have too much of that until SuperDick Shane. But I hoped you enjoyed. And if you did, Ieave love please. Thanks :) *Off to watch PLL* **


	18. Reunited

**I'm glad you guys agree with me about being evil. That's what you want to be. Keeping readers in suspense. Killing off their favorites. All that evil stuff. :) So…This chapter is kinda choppy for the fact that it bounces back and forth between Daryl and Carol. There is a racial slur in this story so I apologize for it, but its kinda character. I've read it and it makes sense, but I'm also a bit sleep deprived. Since its almost 3:00 am here. But I hope you enjoy :)**

"Wha'? No hug for your ol' brother?" Daryl was in shock, sure he hit the floor too hard. His brother was standing in front of him, like a ghost, risen from the dead.

"Merle?" he questioned, his voice shaky.

"Well who the hell do ya think it is?" he asked, pulling his brother into a hug. Almost robotically, Daryl wrapped his arms around his brother. After what felt like an hour, Merle pulled back.

"How-how-how did you get 'ere? What are you doin' here?" Daryl couldn't wrap his head around this. Yeah, Merle was a fighter. All Dixons were, but by yourself, in this hellhole?

"Well, after Officer Friendly left me up on the roof and that fuckin' nigger dropped the damn key. Well I had ta do what I did." Merle held up hand, which was now a stub.

"Gotta thank ya though. Wouldn't had made it this far without that van." Merle sneered.

"If ya just waited. We came back ta get you. Me, Rick, and T-Dog." He told him. Merle laughed.

"You friends with that nigger, and the man who left me ta die? "

"T-Dog and Rick ya mean? Yeah, I am." Daryl stated. Huffing, Merle ran his head over his head, through what little hair had grown.

"Whatever. So what are we gonna do?" Merle asked. Daryl stared at him.

"Whatcha mean we?"

"Me an ya. Make a run from this place." he explained. Daryl shook his head.

"Nah. Stayin' here. Got people to look after." he told him, his voice hard.

"They ain't nothing. Ain't ya kin. Not like me. We's brothers. Have ta stick together. Ya at least owe me that." he told him.

"Look Merle. You're my brother but these people. Well.." Daryl drifted off. "Jus' cause we're brothers doesn't mean I have to help ya sorry ass." Daryl's voice was harsh and serious.

"Ah. Is that it? Darylina finally grown a pair and decides to desert his own blood?" a flicker of hurt swiped across his face, but his steely exterior quickly washed over.

"Merle. I gotta look after this group. People look ta me for their survival and I ain't doin' too great right now. I know how that feels." he stared at his brother.

"Wha' about 'Officer Friendly'?" he sneered. "Ride off inta the sunset with Deputy Dick?" he laughed. Daryl pushed him, before he knew it.

"Shut it. Don't matter what happened to them. I'm in charge now and that's it!" he growled. "Now. If ya help me find my friends and-" he almost let Carol's name slip, but that was a ball that he wasn't ready to bat right now.

"And ya get us out of here; I might let ya into the group. Might." he repeated. Daryl could see the anger boiling in Merle's eyes, but he nodded grimly.

"Now we just gotta figure out a plan" he thought aloud.

-

"Well now. You definitely like to leave more to the imagination, don't you?" the man asked, playing with the front of her shirt. Carol kept quiet. He smacked her, causing her to tumble, but he caught her.

"Now. If I ask you something, you answer me. Pure and simple. Let's try again, shall we?

How are you today?" he asked.

"Fine." Her voice was monotone.

"Cheer up. You should be happy to be in the graces of me. Not a lot of people get to see the inside of my bedroom." He told her.

"What do you want?" she whispered. He placed a finger on her lips.

"Shh. I talk. You comply. Now." He replaced his finger with his lips. His kiss was sloppy and made Carol's skin crawl under his touch.

Forcing his tongue in her mouth, he fell onto the bed, pulling her on top of him. Rolling her over, he stood up.

"You look beautiful, but I think you'd look better-." He ripped her shirt open. "-Like that" he smirked. She tried to cover herself up, but he shook his finger.

"I don't want to tie you up. Now keep still." He warned her. He hovered over her, tracing the faint scars on her stomach.

"Oh dear. You've been marred. It's a pity. You have such a beautiful face and such a lovely body, tainted with these-" He traced a rather ugly one up her ribcage. "-ugly marks. Boyfriend? Husband? Or rather an overprotective father?" he guessed.

"Husband." She told him.

"Figured. Where is he now?" his voice was low and husky, rubbing his nose across her exposed skin. She shuddered in disgust.

"Dead." Her voice was cold and hard. "C'mon. Move faster." She thought, glancing above her head.

"Good. Then I shall feel no regrets about what we do. And neither shall you." He insisted.

"Hands and knees." he demanded, flipping Carol over. Carol felt his arms snake around her waist, unfastening her jeans, pulling her pants and underwear down to her knees. Carol moved forward, gripping the sides of the bed, feeling the cool handle under her fingertips. Carol felt his hands pushing her legs apart, and heard the sound of zipper. She grabbed the handle deftly, waiting until the right moment. His body shifted on the bed, dragging him closer to her.

Just…A…Few…More…

Carol slung the knife behind her, slamming it into his thigh. Screaming in pain, he flailed onto the bed. Beth scrambled from under the bed, throwing the rope to Carol. Fumbling to her feet, Carol slammed the knife farther into the man's leg. Carol grabbed the rope, tying it around his feet and hands.

"You little bitch. You and everyone you love will die." He spat in her face. Carol nodded at Beth, who took a sock, shoving into the man's mouth, placing a piece of tape over top of it. Carol pulled at the rope, making sure it was secure before yanking the knife out of his leg. He flailed on top on the bed, muffled yells escaping his mouth.

"I'm sorry Governor but-" Carol pulled up her pants. "-I think we overstayed our welcome. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to find our friends." She told him, grabbing his unattended gun belt. She turned her attention to the wide-eyed Beth.

"Take this. You go down the lift and see where you can go." She pushed the girl to the lift, opening the door.

"What about Maggie?" she cried.

"You go. I'm going to get her. See if you can find anyone, or a way out. If I can, I'll meet you back in the tunnel" she told her.

"Bu-" Carols shaking head cut Beth off.

"No time to argue. We don't have much time. Go." She pushed the girl into the lift.

"Be careful." Carol hugged the girl, praying her plan worked. Closing the door, she pressed the lift button, sending Beth into the unknown.

-

"Are ya sure?" Daryl questioned.

"Aint the greatest, but its close enough. Been in this place bout a week or two. Ran a few places, seen a few things. They gotta be down there." Merle pointed to the lowest level on a set of blueprints.

"Two tunnels. One on each side. One leads to..." Merle pointed to the floor. "The lower level. And this one." he skidded his finger across the bottom.

"Not sure where it leads, but got some generator in it." he tapped the other tunnel.

"We need that one." Daryl told him. Merle looked at him questionably.

"That's where we been stayin'. I hope it is at least. Now how do we get down there?" Daryl asked. Pulling a gun from his belt, he tossed it to Daryl.

"Gotta fight. That's all. Ya sure 'bout this?" Merle asked for the 10th time.

"She's worth it. I-I mean they all are." he stammered. Merle raised an eyebrow, but didn't question.

"Lets go then." Merle pulled a blade from his pocket.

-

After stashing The Governor in the bathroom, Carol made her way to the door. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open, but nobody was there. Worried, Carol looked up and down both halls, before heading out. Unsure of which way, Carol started to the right, but ended up in a supply closet and a dead end. She knew it wouldn't be much longer till someone came looking for The Governor or her. Throwing open the next door, Carol was granted with the ungodly sight of a battered and bruised Maggie crumpled on the floor.

"Oh god Maggie!" Carol dove to the floor, grabbing up the girl. She started stirring.

"Good. You have to get up. We need have to go." Carol pulled the girl to her feet, holding her steady.

"Where's Beth? Daddy." she asked, disoriented. "Oh god. Wheres Glenn?"

"Don't know, but we'll find him. Now c'mon." she pulled the girl with her.

-

"We can't just kill them all." Daryl told him after he had laid down a second man.

"Wha' the hell happened to ya! A guy even look at ya wrong and you woulda beat the shit out of him. This group made you go soft. You bake cupcakes for them too?" Merle laughed.

"I ain't soft. But I ain't some braindead dumbass who can't think about the consequences of the actions." he spewed. Merle was taken aback. Daryl never tried to to pick fights with him, but Daryl couldn't be the baby brother anymore.

"Now. Ya wanna stay with me then you need to remember this. We don't kill unless we have to. Or else me and ya would 'ave been dead a long time ago." He said grimly. after a minute or two of staring each other down, Daryl gave in and started walking again. he heard Merle following.

"S'rry" Daryl mumbled. And he was. Merle was his family. His only blood. Yeah the group had kinda became a family to him, but none were as important as Merle. That's what he told himself.

"Don't apologize. Dixons don't say sorry." Merle's hand clapped on his shoulder.

"Am though. I left you and didn't even try to find you." Daryl admitted. "I can't get pissed at ya when I was the one being an ass." he told him.

"Yeah. Should be more pissed. Can't blame ya though." Merle admitted. "I aint never been there for ya. Figured it was only time ya left me too." he said. Daryl shook his head.

"Nah. Never leave you. Just took a vacation." Daryl laughed. "Ya my brother. A shitty one, but still my brother. For life." he told him. Feeling that the resolve was done with, they made their way to the lower level to be greeted with guns.

"Well now. This just won't do." The Governor merged from the back, his arms crossed. He had a couple bruises, and blood stained the front of his pants.

"Where the hell is she?" Daryl demanded, pointing his gun in The Governor's face. A disdained look covered his face."Not entirely sure." he admitted. "but, once my men find her. I'll finish my business, and then." he paused, an vicious smile spreading. "I'll kill her." his eyes were serious. Daryl involuntarily pulled the trigger. Daryl heard the thud of his body hitting the floor. Before Daryl's mind could react, Merle was pulling himout of the line of fire.

"Way to go, dumbass!" Merle yelled, pulling him back down the same corridor they just walked.

Shaking his head to clear the clouds, Daryl started running.

"Just gotta go around this time." Daryl told him.

-

"What was that?" Maggie asked, walking with Carol. Carol shook her head, unsure.

"Gunshot. Not sure. We need to move faster now." she told her, picking up her pace. Maggie matched it.

"Where are we going?" Maggie asked

"I don't know. I don't even know where we are." Carol admitted. Carol was worried. They had made it to a flight of stairs without any worry. Carol was sure they would have run into someone.

The gunfire started again, making the halls echo with the barrage of gunfire. They had started down for another case of stairs when they heard a scream coming from the opposite. They looked at each other before darting off in the direction of the continuing screams. They turned a corner when they heard the pop of a gun.

-

"What the hell are ya doing runnin' round here? This ain't a playground little girl!" Merle yelled. Daryl had just rounded the corner when he seen Merle yelling at Beth.

"Beth? Wha' the hell are you doing 'ere?" Daryl walked up to the girl. She was covered in faint marks that Daryl knew would darken with time.

"Oh Daryl. Thank god I found someone." she ecstatically hugged him. Uncomfortably, Daryl rubbed the girls back before peeling her off. When he did, she hugged Merle. Daryl watched as Merle's face went red.

"Alright now. Off." he was flustered, pulling the girl away.

"You saved my life. Thank you." she smiled.

"This is great and all, but what are ya doing 'ere?" Daryl repeated.

"I'm trying to find the rest of the group and get out. I was just trying to find the rest of them. Carol made me leave her." Beth told him. Daryl's heart danced a little.

"Where is she?" he asked

"I don't know. She said she was going to look for Maggie."

"What the hell would she do that for? She ain't even got anything to protect herself." Daryl yelled in frustration.

"Actually.." Beth said.

-

"Just one shot?" Carol asked. Maggie shrugged. They continued on in the direction of the shot. Turning the corner, Maggie spotted Beth and ran in her direction, leaving Carol walking behind her, when she saw the familiar face. Smiling, she made her way to the others, noticing the small smile forming on Daryl's face.

"You're okay!" Beth exclaimed, pulling Maggie off of her just to hug her, wincing in pain as she did. Carol smiled, and noticed yet another familiar face.

"Merle?" she questioned. Sure enough, it was Merle Dixon in the flesh, just a bit thinner and a little more scruffy.

"If it ain't little ol' mousy. Heard ya kicked some ass." He smiled. Carol flushed, but stayed quiet.

Daryl smiled, but it just didn't look right.

"Okay. Now that we're done with reunions, think we need ta find everyone else." Daryl stated.

"Where though? We don't even know where we are." Beth exclaimed.

"In the prison. They're probably down in the tunnels." Daryl told them.

"Yeah. And we need ta go now. Got a dead man's henchmen runnin' round lookin' for their kill." Merle told them, making them move again.

"We're in the prison? They're holding us in our own place?" Beth gasped.

"Wait. What do you mean dead? You guys killed him?" Maggie asked, relieved.

"Daryl. One shot. Guess he shouldnta messed with his woman." Merle joked. Daryl peered at Carol, who was staring at the floor. Why would she want someone so violent? She's already been in that kind of relationship. Daryl huffed, marching forward.

"Need ta get down to the first floor. Stairs are there. Take 'em to the tunnel. Grab everyone, and make our way back to the vehicles. Gotta get the hell outta 'ere." Daryl breathed. "E'eryone got a weapon?" he asked, turning back to them. All but Maggie held up something. Focusing on Carol, he told her to give hers to Maggie.

"I'm fine. I can-" she couldn't come up with anything.

"No. Here. Ya take hers. Shes got mine." He handed her the pistol. Carol looked at the gun in her hands, then at Daryl.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Gotta find my crossbow. You'll watch my back." He assured her.

"All this is done an' o'er, I want my piece back." Merle huffed, breaking Daryl's gaze. Focusing, Daryl nodded.

"Let's go." Daryl started forward.

-

Carol was busy breaking the chains that were still around Andrea's wrists, while Beth helped Lori and Michonne out. Maggie, Daryl, and Merle went to find the men.

"Merle's actually alive? And we thought this was hell!" Andrea laughed. Carol was afraid she might have a concussion. They were making their way down the tunnel, when Andrea noticed Daryl and Merle dragging Glenn's lifeless body out of one of the holding cells. Maggie started sobbing. They started for the stairs, Daryl running up to check outside. Carol passed another holding cell, and heard a cry.

"Hello?" she asked from the opposite side of the door.

"We need to go!" Andrea yelled behind her.

"There's someone else here" she told her. Andrea sprinted back. Carol called out again, getting another cry in response. Quickly acting, she opened the door, flooding the room with dingy light. She seen a figure shift against the back wall.

"We need to go!" Andrea yelled, hearing gunshots. Throwing her Merle's gun, she told her to go up. That she'd be out in 5. Andrea protested, but left.

"Carol?" the voice called.

-

There were at least 20 "henchmen" outside, waiting for them. Michonne had ran into the building. Daryl, being unarmed, snuck around the opposite side, running in and grabbing the keys. Meeting up with Michonne, she handed him a shotgun and nodded, disappearing outside. Heading to the front, he swung open the door, and aimed, nicking someone in the shoulder. Around them, people fell. He watched as T-Dog fell, and Daryl aimed for the guy, watching as he fell.

He cleared the way to the vehicles, getting in the station wagon and starting it. Watching as one of the men pointed their gun at the windshield. Slamming on the gas, Daryl sped forward, making the man dive to the side. He skidded the car to a halt, throwing the back door open.

"Where's Carol?" he asked, aiming his gun.

"Still down there." Andrea told him over the gunfire. "She said someone else was down there."

"And you jus' left her down there? Coulda been a goddamn walker!" he yelled, hitting another man.

The firing stopped. Daryl looked around. It seemed that they were all dead.

"Move." He pulled the keys out, handing them out. "Get everyone in the cars. We need to go!" he headed for the bike before remembering Merle. He held the keys out, but Merle held his hand up.

"Ya's now. Jus' take care of her." Merle climbed into the station wagon. Lori was sitting in the passenger seat, carl in the back. T-Dog was laid in the back of the car. Daryl hopped on the bike, starting it up.

"We need to go." Herschel calmly told him.

"We ain-" Daryl was interrupted by a large gasp.

Carol was walking out, dragging a body with her.

"That's…." the group was silent.

**3 chapters in 1 week? I feel proud, and you should feel happy. Or don't. Whatever. So I have a story to share with you. It's more of an observation and a question...**

**So my friend and I were talking about the upcoming season of 'The Walking Dead' and we were discussing Lori's pregnancy and how Shane is probably the father. She then brought up Andrea. Like what if Andrea is pregnant with Shane's baby? (It only takes one time!) And what would happen if Lori lost her baby and went batshit crazy about Andrea and her baby?**

**So yeah…That was it…Think it's possible? Maybe..**

**But I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The Governor is dead…Merle is back. And who's the mysterious person? Is Glenn alright? Is anyone? Your questions will be answered next time on 'Prove You Wrong'. Thanks for tuning in. *Sleep Deprevation :P ***


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